We departed Galway this morning heading north-west to Kylemore Abbey.
It was a mixed bag of weather with sun, cloud, showers and rainbows (no pot of gold). Kylemore Abbey is located in one of Ireland's National Parks (Connemara). Just beautiful country.
The Abbey was constructed by Mitchel Henry in 1868 as a private 40,000 sq ft private residence. after his death it was purchased by the Duke and Duchess of Manchester in 1903 but they tired of it and eventually sold it to a group of Benedictine Nuns who have maintained a presence through to the present time. Tours of the Abbey and walled gardens help support the cost of upkeep of the structures.
Also on the grounds was a fabulous walled garden.
From here we drove to our end destination, Kirkonan Castle. There was no direct road from the Abbey to the Castle and we relied on the GPS built into the rental car that had been doing a good job so far. We learned a lesson, avoid "L" series roads. We ended up on about 40 km of one which was paved but no shoulders or lane markings. The reason it didn't need lane markings was that it was a one lane, two-way road bordered by mostly stone walls and free roaming black faced sheep. There were pull outs to allow approaching vehicles to pass carefully. Luckily there wasn't much traffic.
Chris's view from the passenger seat... one of the improved sections of road with lines
We arrived at the Castle at around 16:00 and had time to unwind in the bar before supper in the casual dining room. Just a splendid guest room (we got an upgrade to a suite) and fabulously restored building.
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