We had another fairly leisurely morning again today, enjoying a full Irish breakfast at our B&B, complete with black and white pudding, sausage, bacon, egg, and a roasted tomato. This fueled us up nicely for a hike across the island and up a hill to check out the ruins of St. Benen’s church and enjoy one last higher-elevation look at the coasts of Inis Mor. We also met some donkeys.

We made it back in plenty of time to catch our ferry back to the main island at noon and were relieved to find that our car was still in the car park where we left it, along with the few items we boldly dared to leave behind “in the boot”. We plugged in our stops into the GPS for our scenic drive through the Connemara enroute to Westport and made a quick stop at a small grocery to pick up sandwiches and pastries for our drive. Our first real stop was Kylemore Abbey for a quick photo opportunity of the impressive exterior. On a recommendation from the Rick Steves guidebook, we stopped once along the side of the road to wander onto the peat bog and examine the squishy, bouncy texture below our feet. It was rainy, so we didn’t stay long at either Kylemore Abbey or in the peat bog before heading further down the road. We briefly admired the Aasleagh Falls from our rental car before driving through Doo Lough Valley. A lot of drive-by sightseeing this afternoon.

For most of the drive up until this point, the landscape of the Connemara reminded us a lot of our trip to Scotland in 2023: mountains and lakes. But when we reached Doo Lough Valley, the landscape changed a bit, becoming a bit desolate. I’m not sure I would have noticed the change had I not read about the tragedy that occurred here during the famine in the 1840’s (known in Ireland as “the great hunger”) when 600 starving people walked 12 miles over the summit to ask for food from their landlord, only to be turned away hungry. A somber memorial honors the 200 or so who died on the walk back. The last stop on our tour was fitting: the coffin ship sculpture in Murrisk depicting the ships that bore starving emigrants off to other countries, often arriving with far fewer living passengers than the number who initially embarked due to starvation and disease on the ships.

It was still raining when we made it to Westport and checked into our B&B, so we stayed inside for a bit where it was warm and cozy before venturing back out again. I love music but because we usually try to get an early start to beat the crowds of tourists, we generally try to get settled in for the night (to work on the blog) well before 9:30 pm when most of the live music in Ireland starts. I’ve felt no small amount of guilt about not fully enjoying Ireland’s pub scene and live music. Fortunately, our super friendly B&B hostess told us about a beloved pub here in Westport that has early sessions starting at 6:30 pm, so we headed back into town for an early dinner and to catch the last part of the music session. We lucked out and happened to find two empty seats at an otherwise full bar and settled in to enjoy the music.

We weren’t there long before an adorable elderly man visiting from Northern Ireland started chatting with us. We’d heard about this from various sources in our preparations for the trip and we’ve certainly been warmly welcomed at most of the places we’ve visited so far, but this was perhaps our first long pub chat. Regretfully, the various pints of Guinness and Murphy’s I’ve been enjoying this past week have been catching up with me and I had promised myself to go easier today. So when I finished the half pint of Smithwick’s I allowed myself, we said our goodbyes to our new friend and headed back to our B&B for the night.

Today’s Highlights

• Full Irish breakfast
• Nice weather for the majority of our last hike on Inis Mor
• A much calmer ferry ride back to the main island
• A cup of hot earl gray tea during a cold, rainy road trip
• Rugged mountains and lakes that reminded us fondly of a previous trip
• More delicious pub food
• Live music before our bedtime
• An adorable elderly man who had no idea he was at risk of being kidnapped and taken back to Texas

Tomorrow’s Proposed Adventures

• A trip to the National Famine Museum in Strokestown
• A scenic drive through County Donegal
• A stop at Donegal Castle
• Arrival in Derry