June 5th - Galway to Clifden




We left the bed and breakfast the same time as usual, yet a little slower than usual. We had been out enjoying the city of Galway the night before, and needless to say, were not ready for another long ride in the van. But we all piled in and headed for the first stop. This was the salmon weirs in Galway. I think this would have been very interesting had we seen any salmon, but there were quite a few fisherman around to photograph. Next to the river was a cathedral. Inside were beautiful tile mosaics and stained glass.

From Galway, we traveled west along the Connemara coast to the Kilkieran dock where they had a seaweed processing plant. We were offered a tour but had to decline due to time restrictions. We were, however, fortunate enough to witness a dock worker named Michael holding a monk fish by the eyes and tail to allow its mouth to hang open. This was a truly disgusting sight, especially since it occured before noon.

From here we traveled to the highlight of the day, the Connemara National Park. This is one of the least populated places on the island. As we started through the park, Howard told us a story about how Oliver Cromwell, after defeating the Catholic forces, banished them "to hell or Connaght (Connemara)." If I had a choice, Connenara is where I would be. The endless mountain ranges, some bare, some covered with pine trees looked more like heaven than hell.

This is a place where nature has been allowed to run wild. It was apparent when we began to hike around that the artifacts of modern man had not yet touched this area. We came upon a small waterfall in the middle of the park and stopped there to take pictures. We all hiked around a little to find our own shots.

Howard then called us together for a group picture. It was decided that we should all stand on the rocks in the waterfall. Someone motioned to me to try and get to, as it turned out, a very slippery rock in the middle of the water. "Sure," I responded," as I bounded down the rocks closer to the water. As I stood next to the water, I measured the distance from where I was to where I wanted to be. I started to jump to the rock and slipped and fell into the waterfall. As I entertained the group with my mishap, I could not help but laugh at myself. We took pictures as I sat cold in the rushing water. As I tried to get out, I slipped again and lost my sunglasses down the waterfall. Soaked and cold, I followed them down after Howard helped me to find them a bit downstream.

Finally reaching them, I figured I wasn't wet enough and dunked my entire body in the water. As we drove out of the park, the only thing I could think of was that I had just ruined my only pair of clean pants, the ones that had only been worn for twenty hours.

Shelby Leland


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