Thursday 7th September 2017
Our only disappointment visiting County Clare, was not to admire the Cliffs of Moher and take in The Burren in the north of the County. (Something to add to our future wish list). Nevertheless, it’s onwards and upwards north into County Galway.
Towing Kilometres – Today: 160 – Cumulative: 1,516
Towing the caravan does mean you have to consider the routes and roads to take, which sometimes means missing out on some sights and scenery, but them’s the breaks I guess. We set off on N67 towards Ballyvaughan, a small harbour village on the southern shore of Galway Bay. Some of the road on our approach towards Ballyvaughan was very exciting.
Twisting hairpin bends made the drive much more fun and brought back some fond memories for Ray on his many motorbike trips. From here we hugged the coastline to Kinvara and into County Galway. What a picture postcard place this was! There was a delightful hotel, The Merriman Inn and many other thatched properties.
As we left the village we past Dunguaire Castle, as 16th century Tower House.
Sometime later we made our approach to the city of Galway. (Ring roads around the major cities is always such fun). We seemed to be doing so well on N6, circumnavigating the busy parts of the city, when for some obscure reason the sat nav had other ideas. We were on an R road and heading towards Galway Cathedral on the banks of the River Corrib!
As it turned out we enjoyed the detour. We certainly wouldn’t have seen the Cathedral otherwise. After then passing some of the National University of Galway campus sites and the many students on foot, we made it back on the N road out of the city and South Galway.
Our inland route followed Lough Corrib, the largest lake in the Republic of Ireland, towards The Twelve Bens mountain range and our next stop, Connemara. The landscape had changed. It was very flat, with numerous loughs and very few villages.
Finally we arrived in Clifden, the unofficial capital of Connemara and the next stop on our tour. Our camp site was just north out of Clifden, although we nearly missed the tiny sign indicating where it was! Clifden Campsite and Caravan Park. (Formerly Shanaheever).