Climbing Leckavrea

With no excursions planned this weekend, the wall was whitewashed just begging for a new mural. In Connemara National Park, one of the most gorgeous areas in Ireland, there are many mountains. One of these mountains, the highest at 612m tall, was just screaming at us to climb it. So, of course, that's exactly what we did. I arranged with Lally's bus service to drop us off in Maam Cross, a small town near the base of the mountain, and then we headed for the summit. It was a tough landscape to traverse with variations between boggy marsh area to sheer rock faces. After rain falls streams emerge all over the mountain pouring from the top towards the lakes below. In the early stages the main goal was to not sink into the moist spots. As the hike progressed it turned into a bit more of a challenge when at some points we faced seventy five degree accents. I should mention, there was absolutely no path to speak of beyond the ones sheep had made when traversing the hillsides. It was a deceiving climb when we neared the top, each peak seemed to be the last until we got to it and realized that there was a higher point. Finally we saw it, a pile of rocks marked the top of the mountain. After adding our own rocks to the pile and stopping for a few pictures and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, we headed back towards the bottom. This presented a far greater task in that descending down slippery, wet, soft grasses was not easy, nor was trying to slide down rock faces with few foot holds. After reaching the bottom the entire group that joined was very empowered and overjoyed with their accomplishment.

Excursion to Northern Ireland

On the way to Northern Ireland on Wednesday the 6th we stopped by W.B. Yeats' grave. Interesting tidbit: Yeats actually wrote what he wanted found on his headstone, "Cast a cold eye on life, on death. Horseman, pass by." We also stopped by a megalithic court tomb which was recommended by our archeology professor shortly afterward. We arrived in Derry and ate dinner before having an excellent night out on the town, some of which I admittedly don't remember.
The next morning we headed off to the Grianan of Aileach, an ancient ring fort which has the view of a lifetime. Miles and miles are visible from this outpost. It also was a patronage location for many people since it had the holy well of St. Patrick as well. After that we toured through the Bloody Sunday Museum. It was extremely powerful with all kinds of pieces from the day contributed from the family. The facilitator of the tour was the brother of one of the men shot on Bloody Sunday too so his input was extremely powerful. After that Garvin toured us through the Bogside murals and then around the walls of the city. Garvin gave us the best tour ever, I offered to buy him a pint after we were done. He declined because he needed to drive but he told me as a season ticket holder of Derry Football since 1985 he was a member of the Derry Football Social Club and invited me and a few others to join him and his wife there that night. It was a great night, we played trivia and downed a few pints. The best question: "What do Americans call Knots and Crosses?" Answer - Tic Tac Toe, but we though he asked, "What do Americans call Nazi Crosses?" so our answer was Swastikas. Luckily, the host of a radio station was there so our laughable answer at least made it to the Irish radio!
On Friday we headed off from Derry on to the Bushmills Distillery to tour the Whiskey's birthplace and learn about the production. Of course, included in this was a free sample at the end. From there we took off for the Giant's Causeway which was extremely cool. This geological feature has been cause for astonishment for eons. Giant basalt columns shoot up from the earth forming along the Atlantic coast. The story behind it is  that the Irish warrior Fionn mac Cumhaill built the causeway to walk to Scotland to fight his Scottish counterpart Benandonner. After that we headed for Belfast.
In the morning on Saturday we toured around Belfast stopping along the Falls and Shankill roads (Catholic and Protestant areas, respectively), at one of the "peace walls" (which was very powerful), the location the Titanic was built and launched, and at the Parliament Building. A few of us hopped off the bus and toured through the City Hall, the Church of St. Patrick, St. Anne's Church, Victoria Square, Queens University, and the Botanical Garden. Belfast was pretty cool but it was way too big-city feel for me.
After leaving Belfast on Sunday, we headed to Strokestown Park, home of the Famine Museum. We toured the house, which was home to tenants of land during the famine time, and then walked through the museum looking at original documents and accounts of the tragedies that occured. Then we headed to the estate's "Pleasure Garden." From there it was back to Galway and on to Spideal.

The Benedictines of Ireland

Hopping on the bus at 9 in the morning on Saturday the second, we made our way through the Connemara National Park. Connemara is a gorgeous area known for their bogs, grasslands, and scenic mountains. We passed through Moycullen (known for the Connemara Marble Factory) and on through Oughterard (home of the famous Aughnanare castle, a well preserved tower house from the 16th century) and finally through Maam Cross and on through the mountains.
We arrived at the Kylemore Abbey around lunch time and immediately were in awe. The abbey consisted of a gigantic fortress, a gothic church, and a victorian walled garden. The Kylemore Abbey has been home to the Benedictine community of nuns moved from their original home in Ypres, Belgium during the beginning of WW1 after originally establishing in 1665. Since 1920 they have cultivated and preserved the estate which was home to a school as well, sadly that shut down two years ago. It is a pretty heavily visited area for tourists in Ireland, in fact we ran into a group of elderly women from Wisconsin while there.