Big driving day

Connemara Peninsula

Today, we have our longest drive from Galway to County Donegal for a 2 night stay at a friend’s B&B.  We were originally meant to break the journey into two days and have only one night stay there (and one along the way tonight).

We left Galway at 0800 and as with yesterday, we are taking a scenic detour again, along the coast of the Connemara Peninsula. The scenery along the Sky Road was quite typically Irish with rocky bays filled with golden seaweed. We stopped at the Sky Road viewing point 0915 before the road took off the peninsula.

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Kylemore Abbey

Around 1000, we reached Kylemore Abbey.  It has just opened and the weather was just starting to rain too.  We didn’t want to join the queue and retreated to the café to use the facilities and then sat down for some tea with apple pie, drenched with custards.

Realising that a substantial portion of the attraction is gardens, we decided that it wouldn’t be a good day to visit.  The indoor areas will be more of things we’ve seen before such as lavish rooms, ornate furniture etc.

I was puzzled as to why the Abbey looked more like a castle or a mansion.  It turned out that it started life as the home of a wealthy merchant before eventually becoming an abbey.

That transformation occurred in the 1920s when Belgian Benedictine monks that fled war-torn Belgium bought the property for their new base.

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Continuing to County Donegal

The next sight, Sligo Abbey, which was a non-event, as it was largely in ruins and the weather was wet.  We stopped at Lidl on the edge of Donegal town to stock up on provisions before heading further off the beaten track for 2 nights.

The route took us through Killibegs, a fishing port that’s home to a large fleet of fishing boats.  From there, we cut inland to our B&B located just outside Glencolumbkille.  As we approached the area, we noticed there were peat bogs around that were being harvested for heating.

We arrived at the lovely B&B around 1600.  With underfloor heating, it was plenty warm.  It was spacious too, with a lovely sunroom that looked out into the valley and had a glimpse of the sea.

For dinner, we heated up the goodies which we had bought from Lidl.  Looking out at the view, we reflected on our day. This was supposed to be the longest day in terms of driving but it wasn’t too arduous shared between the both of us.