Our original plan was to take the short route from Galway to Sligo, which is inland from the “Wild Atlantic Way”. The Wild Atlantic Way is a series of roads along the coast with intersect or stay close to the water. Our guide on Inishmore told us we had to drive to Sligo via the Connemara region, closer to the coast, and go through Westport. It took us a bit longer, but it was good advice! Our first stop was The Quiet Man Bridge.
This bridge is featured in the movie The Quiet Man, with John Wayne. Here is the scene in question, if you are curious. The bridge is shown in the first few seconds…the rest is a pretty lame sound stage scene, but then it was 1952. The actual bridge can be seen again at the end.
Our next stop was Pines Island viewpoint. I’ve got to say this little island looks so out of place with the rest of the surroundings. Ireland has so many surprises around every corner, even without the Leprechauns!
We then drove past Derryclare Lough and Lough Inagh and were greeted with one of the best rainbows we’ve ever seen. It followed us for several miles.
Assleagh Falls was on the other side of the Loughs…err…lakes!
The water in this region takes on this strange brown color due to it’s being filtered through the areas peat bogs.
We did drive through Westport, and it looked cute, but it was so crowded we only stopped for gas and moved on. We checked into our B&B, (Castledale), and then took a drive to nearby Strandhill Beach.
A quick note about the below photo. This is without a doubt the best photo I’ve taken in Ireland, and one of the best I’ve taken in years, if not ever (IMHO). There is a walkway above this beach, and I saw the rocks below and the sky in the distance, and I knew this was a magical moment. I’m a huge fan of Ansel Adams and Christopher Burkett (a very talented color photographer), and when they talk about seeing an “aha” moment, it never clicked with me, until now.
The next photo is equally impressive, but the first one is my favorite. Let us know what you think. There’s a good chance one of these will be hanging on our wall soon.
The next morning we had incredible weather, so we headed to the local favorite geological feature, Benbulben.
Adjacent to Benbulben is the Forest Walk, which is 5.5km of beautiful!
The sheep graze way up on the side of the mountain. There is grass everywhere below, so why? Crazy!
The forest gets quite dark in numerous places. Doesn’t Kim look like Little Red Riding “No” Hood here, getting ready to walk towards Grandma’s House?
We both thought this looked a lot more like Hawaii than Ireland! This place loves the camera!
I love the alignment of the trail with the fence line running towards Benbulben.
Another view of Benbulben as we near the end of the loop trail.
Not too far away is Gleniff Horseshoe, a loop drive into a box canyon.
We nearly had the place to ourselves. We were on the road for at least 15 minutes and saw nobody. Here is a panorama of the box canyon.
Our last stop of the day was Glencar Waterfall. First was a spot along the lake that Glencar runs into. I want to build my house right where I was standing!
Glencar Waterfall was created by glaciers running through the adjacent valley. Impressive spot!
Kim showed off her selfie skills. Much better than me!
One feature of our B&B experience at Castledale is they have a pool table. Don’t play against Kim if you want to keep your money!
Next up, Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery and Queen Maeve’s Grave.