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2011 Europe

Tuesday 07 June 2011 : Strandhill -> Keel

Tuesday 07 June 2011
Strandhill -> Keel
We packed up our site and headed out, intending to visit a couple of historically-significant sites enroute to Keel.  Our first stop was to see Knocknarea which is the (alleged) gravesite of legendary Queen Maeve (or Mab) who may or may not have actually existed (think Arthurian legend). As we drove to the site, some of the signs had been turned around and without any specific directions we ended up going off in the wrong direction (even Sean (our GPS) didn’t even know where the site was!) We managed to navigate the wrong-pointing signs and the road closed for roadworks ruses and eventually made it to the carpark from where we could walk to the site.  Tracy had mis-read in the Lonely Planet that it should have been a ten minute walk to the top of the hill (Later, we discovered that the NEXT site involves a ten minute walk and THIS site involves a 45 minute walk uphill along barely visible tracks through open farmland with the only thoughts going through our minds being Nepali Flat and reminiscences of Annapurna!) Anyway, it wasn’t raining when we set off but it did drizzle a couple of times on the ascent.  When we reached the top of the hill, we saw the cairn. For those not familiar with the term cairn, it means pile of rocks, and that’s exactly what was on the very top of the hill, a big pile of rocks! As no-one has ever excavated the site to determine if the remains of someone who didn’t actually exist might be buried underneath, we had no idea whether the site was actually significant or whether someone was playing some sort of long running practical joke? The views from the hilltop were spectacular though, so the walk was not completely in vain.  Of course, as soon as we started down the hill it started to rain and as we were only expecting a quick ten minutes to the top, we didn’t bring any wet weather gear.  This oversight was rammed home to us when we passed a tour of people on their way up to the cairn, fully equipped with wet weather gear, walking poles and water bottles, all the stuff we happened to have left in Vinny.

Miffed with the pile of rocks experience and the weather, we decided to forego the Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetary visit (the one with the actual ten minute walk to the summit) and headed for Ballina (pronounced bally-nar) which is the reported salmon capital of Ireland. The drive itself was uneventful, although the weather came and went making driving conditions at times, wonderful and at other times, treacherous.  Eventually we made it into Ballina and found a park for Vinny whilst we wandered around in the heavy drizzle looking for a salmon-monger and a pub reported for their food in Lonley Planet. Eventually we found them, side-by-side on the same street.  We had an OK lunch of smoked salmon sandwiches on homemade Irish wholemeal soda bread and Tracy had something less fishy! Afterwards we went to the fishmonger and purchased a sheet of smoked farm salmon and a piece of fresh wild salmon. On the way back to the van, we stopped in a 3-mobile store to see if we could get a technology glitch sorted out, but the man seemed completely disinterested in solving our issue instead preferring to try to sell us an alternative.  Needless to say, he made no sale at all and we left.

The next stop on the way was just after Ballycastle on the rugged northern coast of County Mayo at another historical site, Ceide Fields which was a Stone Age settlement uncovered accidentally by a farmer in the 1930s.  On the site now is a large pyramid shaped information centre and “experience” which was interesting, but although the Lonely Planet recommends a guided tour of the surrounding area, we declined and as the LP says, all we saw was a series of small walls! we did learn a thing or two about peat bogs, which came in handy for just after Ciede Fields we started noticing farmers digging up and drying their peat bricks in the fields alongside the roads. We weren’t sure if they were digging up such vast quantities of the stuff to dry and burn as fuel in their own homes in the winter months, or whether they were selling the stuff to distilleries to be used in whisky (whiskey) making processes. Regardless of the destination, the peat “harvesting” was in full swing for many miles.  Knowing the history of peat bogs, the farming practices are only relatively short lived as once you have dug them up they don’t regenerate and nothing will grow on the land itself.  This area was once forests, but when they were burnted down they created a layer of carbon which stops anything from being absorbed into the ground, hence the land becomes sodden and nothing breaks down properly.  However it is a cheap solution for fuel and lets face it nobody cares about the future here – Ireland is very similar to Australia in that concept.  As we reached the western end of the county and headed south, the roads got narrower and the surfaces worse.  Driving was not enjoyable that afternoon. A lot of the road works have been partially supported and funded by the Eu, but that doesn’t seem to help, just gives somebody money to help put tarmac between ever growing pothols.  Eventually we made it across the bridge onto Achill Island and pulled into the seaside hamlet of Keel (Keel Sandylands Camping & Caravan Park). We checked into the park and the lady at reception was overjoyed to have Australians staying, she has friends in Perth and loves visiting whenever she has the opportunity. It also turned out she was born and lived near Trim and was fascinated to hear that we loved our guided tour of Trim Castle.

We pitched Vinny and went for a walk along the beach.  The weather was cold and it was windy but as were to discover, things would be much worse later.  Keel is another “surfing” spot, popular too with kitesurfers although none of those activities were happening when we arrived.  The beach was almost deserted except for a Dad out playing with his kids on the sand (they were dressed for their day at the beach, wetsuits and beanies!)  The toe-test proved the water was not any warmer here than further north at Strandhill.  we walked up from the beach and through the township, doing our usual routine of counting the pubs and restaurants.  Often we noticed the adverse effect of the economy; in several places renovations started some time ago had just abruptly stopped without ever being finished, one large, new building was stopped so abruptly there was still cement piles on boards in the middle of the work-site which would have been used by the bricklayers. It also seems as if every second building is for sale.  Maybe if they built smaller macmansions they wouldn’t have to sell, but again like Australia some people just build the tackiest macmansions with little forethought to financial and environmental outcomes.  There are a lot of housing estates here where all the buildings are so alike, similar to Perth where people like in housing estates and just build whatever the builders tell them too without thinking about something different, after all don’t want to be an individual, just follow the rest of the herd.  The lady at the park had said that Keel was “thumping” over the bank weekend, but now all was quiet again and it was just the locals out collecting a take away meal or coming home from a day (somewhere), and the occasional tourists wandering through the sleepy town.

We made it back to the park as the rain started down and the wind started to pick up a bit.  Any ambitions of a late afternoon run were squashed, and the bar opened instead!  I cooked up the piece of wild salmon purchased earlier in the day
at Ballina; this was the BEST fish I have ever eaten and combined with a simple salad and some boiled potatoes formed the best meal I have eaten in a VERY long time.  It’s a pity we aren’t going back to Ballina because I’d be buying a lot more of this.