June 21 - Midsummers Day or Midwinter if you’re in the other hemisphere.
Our week in the west ended with an overnight stop at a B & B in Oughterard near Galway before returning to Dublin on Sunday. The B & B was run by a couple who had spent 15 years running a similar place in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney so were delighted to talk about their time in Oz. Along with the B & B they run a fishing business - Donal takes parties of fisherpersons out on the lake or fly-fishing from the shore - he says fishing on Lake Jindabyne came a close second. We would have liked to spend more time in that area - it is very beautiful country - lots of big lakes and good walking paths - maybe next year. On the way to Galway, we drove along the coast through an area called The Burren - an amazingly stark rocky part of the country - a real contrast to the rolling green farmland we had become used to in Kerry. Along the way we stopped off to walk along the cliff tops at the Cliffs of Moher - very dramatic.
Then on Sunday night, a wonderful meal with Richie’s family in Dublin. Never before have we had a garden deck built especially for our visit - made us feel like royalty! Actually, I think Richie’s mum used the occasion as leverage on his dad to get a long anticipated project completed - the weather did its bit and we sat on the deck in warm sunlight till close to 10pm.
Today we are off to London for a few days with Phil’s niece Bronwyn then a couple of nights in Oxford.
