Ireland Day 5 - 28th Nov. 2004

Liverpool 2 - Arsenal 1

Moycullen to Moycullen via the Connemara Peninsula
Ireland Weather: Mostly Sunny - Mid 50's

We woke up a little later than usual because we had an easy day – all we had to do was drive to Kylemore Abbey and see the Connemara Peninsula. We headed out on the N59 road towards Oghterard at approximately 9:30am under perfectly clear blue skies.

About 10km up the road, we saw a small sign that said ‘Aughnanure Castle’ So we went to see what it was all about. We got to the parking lot and it said ‘closed until Spring of 2005’.

^ Aughnanure Castle ^

We decided we’d get out and walk around to see what we could see anyway – perhaps the little stream would afford us a pleasant view. As we walked along, the caretaker happened to be taking her dog for a stroll and asked us if we’d like to go inside.

No sooner had the synapses fired than we said YES! PLEASE!!. And at a paltry €2.75 each, we had the whole castle to ourselves for almost 45 minutes. The only caveat was that we had to close the gate when we left (assuming the caretaker wasn’t there). She returned and revealed an interesting side of her dog to us – it loves to chase (and chew) rocks.

^ The whole crew (plus rock chewer) at Aughnanure Castle ^

We thanked her for everything and headed out for Kylemore. David had gotten to see his castle.

The N59 takes you to Maam-Cross…where they did quite a bit of filming for the John Wayne movie ‘The Quiet Man’. They even have a sign that directs you to The Quiet Man Bridge.

15km past Maam-Cross, we headed north on the R344 road towards Kylemore…driving through The Twelve Bens – twelve mountains all named Ben something…Benbaun, Bencullagh, etc. At one point in the drive, we managed to see a complete rainbow in front of sunlit mountains with perfect little cottage houses on one side, and directly in front of us was a shepherd and his flock crossing the road…very picturesque.

Kylemore is approximately 7km west of the junction between the R344 and the N59 on the north end of the loop, and it’s now a nunnery. For €5, you can walk through 4 rooms…but the real attractions are the grounds and gardens.

^ Kylemore Abbey ^

We walked through the entire place and headed back to the cafeteria for a bite to eat. Laura and I shared a bowl of Irish stew and some turkey sandwiches and some hot tea…all for about €15.

We jumped back on the N59 and headed home to Moycullen by way of Clifden. We stopped in several spots for photos along the way – the highlight being Recess…2 or 3 km past the R344 turnoff north back to Kylemore.

There is a long lake (Glencollagh) and at the turnout there’s a statue of a Viking looking man with the inscription ‘Built in 1999 by Joyces Craft Shop for No Apparent Reason’ And behind it there’s a plaque that reads ‘On this site in 1867, Nothing Happened’.

Beautiful sunset across a very glassy lake.

We stopped off in Oughterard to do some light shopping because things were open. I bought a nice trekking backpack and David bought himself a sweater.

On the way back to Moycullen, we decided to stop off at Hurney’s and have a beer before dinner. We walked into this small 20 x 20 foot bar with yellow walls and across the room was the mouth of hell…a coal fire that was burning VERY hot.

That caught our immediate attention. What caught our attention shortly thereafter was the fact that not only were the walls covered with Liverpool Football Club paraphernalia, but on the television in the corner was a game – broadcast live from Liverpool, England – Liverpool were tied 1-1 with Arsenal of London with 3 minutes to play in regulation.

Deep into the three minutes of injury time, Neil Mellor – just activated from the youth squad to help cover for injured forwards – kicked the ball with the outside of his right foot from 30 yards out on the right side of the penalty area. The ball made a long slow curve to the lower left corner of the goal…edging past the outstretched fingertips of Jens Lehmann – the Arsenal goalkeeper.

Liverpool erupted. So did Hurney’s Pub in Tullkine. It was Mellor’s first goal at the top level, and you could see in the faces of the Arsenal players that they knew the game was over…30 seconds later, the final whistle sounded and confirmed that fact.

David had never seen a live goal scored in a soccer match – much less one as dramatic as this…unfortunately, he STILL hasn’t seen one: he was in the men’s room at the time.

We ordered a round of beers and ciders (we didn’t want to take our lives in our hands by disturbing the bartender during the final moments of the match), and I told him how great it was to walk into the only pub in town and see that it’s a haven for Liverpool supporters…the team I’ve supported since my first trip to England in the mid 1980’s.

After drinking our beers, we followed the bartender’s recommendation and went back into Moycullen to The Forge for dinner. We found a table right away and had a very pleasant meal. I had BBQ Fat on-the-bone, everyone else had something edible.

It was my favorite day on the trip. We called it a night at approximately 10:00pm and went back to Portarra Lodge for the evening – we had bought some snacks and we knew the fire would be there waiting for us in the great/common room.

I went to sleep early and stayed asleep until the alarm went off at 7:15am.

^ Sunset on the Connemara Peninsula ^