2011/04/28 The last ride

We booked a glass bottom boat ride in Letterfrack to not only see the sea's underwater life, but also to enjoy Connemara's unique landscape one last time.
We stopped in Leenane for lunch (and souvenir shopping)..
..and then went even further up north for our next B&B in Castlebar. Loughlannagh turned out to be a "Holiday Village" with caravan parks, fitness center and a hall for common breakfast. We were disappointed, somewhat grossed out.
When chillin' by the lake..
we decided that we'd risk it and move further on towards the East to get closer to Dublin.
We headed towards Athlone and ended up in Carrowphadeen, a teeny tiny colony right by the Center of Ireland.
We crashed a little B&B - Árd Aoibhinn [Aurd Ee'ven; it means "delightful height"] - that is run by a cute couple in their 50ies. The house is totally new (and pretty), and Doris & Kevin made us feel as if we were visiting family. They prepared sandwiches for us in the evening and our baby girl was allowed to splash in their private tub.
The location was quiet and pretty - if you ever wanna go there, we can only recommend (feeleyquinnnguestaccomodation@ireland.com)!

2011/04/27 More beauty, more speechlessness

Today's goal was to not drive too much and relax and more beautiful and peaceful spots.

We started early at Kylemore Abbey, and old building that some rich doctor had built for his wife a few hundred years ago. The place was wonderful, especially lingering through the park and forest.
We continued our trip towards the Connemara Loop to get some more views of the coast.. and rest at a beach. We found a little pretty one in Tully and our baby daughter had a blast (enjoy pics of her on meonnet). There you go:

2011/04/26 Travel day

This day was probably the most exhausting. Although we had experience with the roads (and their speed limits), we underestimated the travel time to Connemara a bit.
We took the ferry in Tralee to skip a few miles and arrive at the Cliffs of Moher rather soon.

After riding through more spectacular - and quiet - land..
..we stopped at the Spanish point right by the cliffs to get some pre-taste of the coast's beauty. When we finally arrived at the Cliffs of Moher, we were not only a little tired, but also shocked: masses of people were getting in line to pay for the parking lot and the view.. we skipped it, because we knew, we would not enjoy rolling with the crowd.

We kept on going and eventually made it to our next stop: Kylemore, Connemara. We rode 15km through nothing but mountains and sheep.. and got what we had been looking for: a quite place to chill!

The B&B - Kylemore House - did not look as spectacular from the outside, but it was amazing: the room was huge (with a gigantic tub), the hosts incredibly friendly, the interior antique and comfy and the area simply stunning. The picture above was the view of our room..