Inishbofin

Another of our wonderful adventures in County Galway was a trip to a remote island called Inishbofin. "Inish" means island in Irish/Gaelic ~ there are many island names that start in this way.  Apparently "bofin" means white cow.  So Inishbofin means Island of the White Cow.  

It was a beautiful, sunny day as we boarded a ferry in a nearby village called Cleggan.  This was the view back toward the shore.  

Once I snapped this photo, the boys headed to seats inside (Chris had shorts on as usual), but I thought it felt wonderful to stand on the deck, a crisp breeze blowing in my face, taking in the amazing scenery.  

This photo was taken as we approached the island.

As was this photo ~ it is what remains of a fort built in the 1650's by Oliver Cromwell during his occupation of Ireland.  

In order to see as much of the island as possible, we decided to rent bikes. Once off the ferry, we followed the signs to a bike rental place.  This was a view of a pretty little harbor we saw along the way.

Here is Ben ~ ready for action.  He really was happier than he looks.

Apparently biking is serious business!

Our first stop was Dumlach Beach ~ it was GORGEOUS!  I remember being surprised by the beautiful beaches when we were in England a couple of years ago, and, though I probably shouldn't have been, I have been equally surprised by the amazing beaches here in Ireland.  

The boys had a blast climbing on this rock formation.

And, as always, regardless of the water temperature, they ended up in the water. :)

Thought this was a nice picture of me and Jeff.  

And just one more of the beach.

Eventually we realized if we wanted to see anymore of the island, we would have to tear ourselves away from the beach...not easy for these Wisconsinites after a long winter!  We continued on the road and came across another lovely harbor.  The water looked almost tropical!

I have LOVED seeing the daffodils!

A happy boy!  We have been fortunate on this trip that so far we have had many opportunities for activity ~ there has not been much sitting around and that makes for much happier boys!

The man who rented us the bikes told us that at last count 140 people live on Inishbofin.  Everyone knows everyone.  On the day we were on the island there was one restaurant open (I think there were two more that were still closed for the winter) and we found this one little shop that also served as the post office.  It really only sold the bare essentials.  Inishbofin is a very remote, secluded place ~ we felt like we were stepping WAY back in time.   On one hand, it is hard to imagine living is this isolation, but on the other hand, it was quite appealing to think of living such a simple life.

After a wonderful day on the island, we boarded the ferry and went back to the mainland.

We headed to a charming little town called Clifden for dinner.  Jeff had seen online that there was a music festival in Clifden that night and over the coming weekend so we thought we would check it out.

We had a delicious meal at E.J. King's Pub, but found out the music did not start until 10pm.  Guess we are a little old and tired for Irish music festivals.

County Galway

I am still here and hoping no one has stopped checking the blog due to lack of posts!  Between our very full days and the lack of internet at times, I have struggled to blog, but I think I should be posting more regularly from here on out.  The scenery here is SO gorgeous so my posts will probably be picture heavy, but I am guessing no one will mind. :)  County Galway was amazing ~ we had so many unique opportunities there.  We stayed in a village called Letterfrack ~ one of the few names I can pronounce!  As you enter, most villages have their name on stones like the one below ~ some have the name in Irish AND English...this one just had English.

We stayed at a group of cottages called Heather Hill Cottages, run by a nice woman named Carmel, who had 6 kids.....

chickens......

pigs.....

dogs (and horses too, but I didn't get a picture of those).

This was the view out of my bedroom window each morning as I got ready ~ the sky just seemed SO big!

One of the best things about our stay here was that Ben and Chris made a friend.  This is Killian, one of Carmel's sons.  He was a cute little guy ~ very funny, with the coolest accent.  It was so fun to hear the three of them having a conversation.  They now have a new saying.  When Killian liked something, like a song or something, he would say, "Oh, that is class."  Of course, you can't hear his accent when I write it, but I am sure you will hear Ben and Chris saying it once we are back ~ listen for it!  They played with Killian for hours ~ walking into the village for candy at the little shop, exploring all kinds of secret paths Killian knew about, playing soccer and rugby, and throwing around the football (I don't think Killy had ever seen an American football). They will never forget him!

Chris with Killian's pet hen

Killian with his pet hen

One of our first big adventures was to go to a farm to see a sheepdog demonstration at Joyce Country Sheepdogs.  The owner's name was Joe Joyce and the area around his farm was labeled on the map  "Joyce Country" ~ after his ancestors.  

Failte means "welcome".

The first thing we saw when we pulled in were two 6 week old border collie puppies ~ we were in love!

But then we saw Joe's kids ~ Saoirse (2)...

and Martin (3) ~ and then we weren't sure who was cuter ~ the puppies or the kids.  One of the cutest things about the kids is that they were fascinated by my camera.  I would take their picture and then show it to them on the display and they would be so delighted to see and recognize themselves on the screen.  I guess they don't see cameras too often.  

We got a great demonstration of Joe working his dogs and sheep.  This dog is "Roy" ~ he controlled the sheep mostly with his movements.

This is Jill.  Interestingly, she controlled the sheep with her stare.  Wish I could do that with my kids.

Chris hugging a sheep. :)

We truly enjoyed our time there with Joe ~ he was an incredibly nice, hard-working man with really cute kids and skilled dogs.  One bit of trivia ~ there is a scene in the movie "Marley & Me" that was filmed near Joe's farm with his sheep in it.  He got to meet Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson after the filming.  I am thinking I will have to watch the movie again to check that out.

As we were driving back to Letterfrack, we stopped so I could take these pictures of one of the many areas where turf had been cut and was drying.  People still use these dried out pieces of peat to heat their homes.  Most homes do not use turf alone as they did not all that long ago, but many supplement their electric or oil heat with a turf burning stove.   At one time, the peat bogs were considered one of Ireland's most precious resources.  We did not have a turf burning stove in Letterfrack, but we did burn turf in our fireplace later in Donegal.  Turf is very hard to light and, in my opinion, doesn't give off much heat at all.  I cannot imagine having turf be your main source of heat!

And that is it for this post ~ what a great first full day here in Ireland!

The First Post

Well, we made it!  We landed at Shannon airport in County Clare at 6am Tuesday morning (that's midnight in "our" time).  Jeff and Ben were able to sleep on the plane, at least for a little while, but Chris and I were not and were VERY grateful for caffeine on Tuesday!!

I thought this window art in the airport was cute ~ our first sighting of St. Patrick. 

Our first stop was The Cliffs of Moher on Ireland's western coast.  This sign had Ben a bit jumpy ~ he was SURE one of us was going to fall off the edge.

I don't often post pictures of myself, but I thought this one showed how windy it was up on the top.  I think I have on all three of the coats I brought in this picture ~ it was COLD!!

This picture was taken at the airport in Boston.  I am obviously not posting it because it is a great example of how cooperative the boys are with all my picture-taking.  I am posting it because, believe it or not, it is the last picture I got before Chris lost his hat.  His last hat made it through most of Italy before he left it in a cathedral.  He forgot this one on the plane when when we landed in Shannon.  :(

He was really sad about it, so he tried on a couple of hats in the gift shop at the Cliffs of Moher.  Guess this is not the one.

This one had a chance, but he decided to wait and look around a bit.  BEN got a hat ~ first one he tried on....why wait?   The story of my boys.  

We drove to Galway City and walked around a bit.  Had lunch in our first Irish restaurant.

We left Galway City and headed toward our cottage in Letterfrack.  It was a beautiful drive through an area of mountains, lakes, and little villages.  Jeff spotted this sign for the "Quiet Man Bridge" which is in the John Wayne movie "The Quiet Man", which we watched a couple of weeks ago and loved.  It was cool that we just happened upon it.  I am not sure how Jeff could even notice the sign ~ I think it would take every ounce of my attention to drive on the left side of the road.  He is doing well....though we will definitely have a few scratches to explain to Hertz when we turn the car in.  I am pretty sure they are used to that.  The roads are SO narrow.

There was a photograph of John Wayne next to the bridge.

Don't worry, I won't post EVERY day.  Just wanted to get this first one under my belt to get back into the swing of things.  It is now Thursday ~ we had a wonderful day yesterday at a farm for a sheepdog demonstration and are planning to do some hiking in Connemara National Park this afternoon.  The boys have spent the morning playing with their new friend Killian, the 7 year old son of the people who are renting us the cottage.  They walked to the village to buy some candy at the country shop and just came to the door carrying a puppy and a chicken.....they are in heaven....pictures to follow.

Cheers!  

Practice Post

Seeing as I only seem to make time to blog when we travel and we are about to embark on another big trip, I thought I better do a practice post to make sure I still remember how to do it.  I do not have anything exciting to blog about so I am just posting a few pictures from a walk Ben and I recently took with Charlee. 

I like to walk her in the farm fields behind the houses across the street from us.  She is on the leash in this picture, but if I am feeling daring, I let her off leash.  MOST of the time she comes back to me.  It is worth the few times I have to chase her down to see the joy she has in running free.  

 Ben had a blast checking out all the cool ice formations in the farm field.

Does anyone have any idea what kind of birds these are?  I thought Charlee was going to try to chase them down but she seemed to realize she was not only outnumbered, but completely outsized as well.

This picture makes it looks like she is actually listening. :)

 I am happy to say that the snow is FINALLY starting to melt ~ though that made the field very muddy.  Charlee needed her first bath....well, it was a shower actually.  She wasn't sure what to think at first, but I think by the end she didn't mind it.  In this picture she is waiting for her ears to dry.

Ben thought that Charlee needed a bow to complete her new clean, sweet-smelling image.  He made her one, but it lasted about as long as her sweet smell.  We sure will miss her while we are gone.

Tune in to follow us on our upcoming Irish adventure!