Stormy Night in Mayo County

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The day I left the infamous "Old Monsastery Hostel" was incredible. One of the most scenic drives I have ever taken.

But backing up a moment....did i mention the prior night out with 2 American girls and a Swiss gent in Tully? We headed out around 11 pm in search of music. Since the town was literally a four way stop with 4 buildings at it, we asked where we might find some music. We drove inland a bit to Tully and found the only pub with live music that night. Max, the Swiss gent, drove really fast and us girls were a bit scared by it..the roads are very small here. We got there and sure enough a lad was playing rock 'n roll on his acoustic and singing beautifully along. We had a blast. The place was packed! All the kids from around the area were there for sure! We made it safely back to the hostel around 2 am.

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The 2 girls from Berkeley and I decided to go to the Kylemore Abbey and then to a fishing village called Cleegan. It was incredible. The Abbey was fantastic in a forested setting beside a lake. It began to rain while there, but only made the beauty more apparent. We walked thru the gardens (mediocre) and then headed out to the coast road. The sun came out and the drive was really beautiful. Not much at the village to see, so we continued on to Clifden where I dropped the girls off.

I then headed out of town towards Westport. The scenery was unbelievable and the rain & clouds & mist came back. The road went thru green mountains and fjords with a beautiful inlet bay and cute little village called Leenan. The sheep were grazing everywhere and I had to stop to say hello to them. Once in Westport, I had lunch and then headed out to view more pennisulas along the beautiful coastal route. Came to Newport but passed the road to the hostel which turned out to be great since the alternate route took me thru some incredible countryside and around two beautiful lakes, one of which the hostel was located at.

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I was the only boarder that night and it was so fantastic! Elma, the hostel caretaker, was a nice Irish woman who made me feel at home and chatted with me for a bit. The building was a large, old two story house overlooking the lake. I made some dinner and then plopped myself in the sitting room where Elma set a nice fire just for me in the small Victorian fireplace. As I had my tea and read by the peat fire (smells wonderful), the wind came up and quickly became verocious! From the window I could see out to the lake and the trees were blowing around like crazy. The sky was incredible at dusk (around 11 pm) and it was just so serene being inside by the fire in an old house all alone with my biscuit, book, and cup of tea.

I ended up sleeping the next day until 1 pm which was okay because it rained all morning. Elma said she was going to wake me up but did not, figuring I needed the rest. She was right. I finally departed at 3pm or so which was perfect because the storm had passed and the sun came out! I said goodbye to Elma and her 3 cats and drove out to Achill Island....beautiful, rugged landscape. From there I headed back inland to Cong for the night.