Ride to Connemara

View From Kilmarvey Guesthouse

Kilmurvey Guesthouse

Thached-roof Cafe

Old Church in Kilronan

The Bog Countryside in Connemara

Mountains in the Connemara National Park

Lough Inagh Lodge

View from Our Room

Main Dining Room at the Lodge

Enjoying a Demo on Preparing Irish Coffee

 September 26, 2010

Today we leave the Aran Islands on the noon ferry.  Although the weather was cold and blustery, there was a short 4 mile ride to the north end of the island that end by some ruins and more houses of the island’s inhabitants.  About 10:45 AM we road into today, did a little shopping in the wool sweater shops, and proceeded to the ferry landing.  The wind was strong and cold.  After a 45 minute ride to the mainland at Rossaveel, we began biking for the day to our lodging at Lough Inagh Lodge near Recess in Connemara.  The route took us bog roads through the bogs of Connemara where the land was more yellow-brown in color due to the acidity of the land.  Normal grasses that give the very lush green color of most of the land we have seen cannot grow in the acidic bogs.  There were numerous streams and small lakes in the area and mountains in the background.   Along the way we passed many trenches where the peat had been cut from the bog and stacked to dry for later transporting to homes for fireplace fuel.  Also we saw sheep grazing throughout the area and often along the road.  We stopped for lunch as a small café where most of the people had smoked salmon or smoked mackerel.  The last 5 miles of biking was oriented toward the mountains with great views of small lakes.  Our last two nights will be a Lough Inagh Lodge (www,loughinaghlodgehotel.ie) which is situated on the shore of Lough Inagh where there is fishing, golfing, riding, biking, etc.  The lodge is beautiful from the outside with vines, which have changed to a bright red autumn color, growing on the exterior yellow-tan colored walls.  We had a large corner with an accompanying small sitting room with views of the Twelve Brns mountain range and the lake.  The land borders on Connemara National Park.   Tonight one of the entrée choices was lamb shank, which I had with an apple and kiwi filled crepe. n Bev had the seafood with vegetables and ice cream.