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2011 Europe

Wednesday 08 June 2011 : Keel -> Galway

Wednesday 08 June 2011
Keel -> Galway
Overnight, the rain poured and the wind howled around the campsite.  Even though the stabilizers are down, Vinny shook, rocked and rolled in the storms which by morning time had almost blown itself out, although it was still windy with offshore breeze and heavy drizzle when we finally got up.  Not to mention that Tracy had spent most of the night away worried that vinnie may topple over.  From our cozy motorhome, looking down the campsite we surveyed some of the damage done to a group of guys who were sleeping in small tents.  Despite their best efforts last night to move their group of tents into a hollow and use their cars as a bit of a windbreak, this morning one of the tents was destroyed, one of its flexible poles now stands erect with rags from its shredded tent still attached and flapping in the breeze.  People are still scurrying to the amenities block and back to their camps, but there doesn’t appear to be anyone else about. Even the beach is deserted. We can see why kitesurfing is becoming increasingly popular in Keel, but even none of them are foolish enough to come out today.
We had originally thought we may stay an extra day here, but the weather is not conducive to anything outdoors, so we decided to head off and make our way to Cong to see a 12th century Augustinian Abbey. 
The strong winds and even stronger gusts didn’t make driving off Achill Island an easy experience, the rain didn’t help much either, but as we got further inland the weather started to abate and we even got to see the Sun at times! We headed south along the west coast of Clew Bay and then turned south-east to head towards Ballinrobe.  It had been a long drive in the conditions and I needed a break.  Conveniently we found a Tesco and did some shopping to top on some food items (vegemite for Scott, but no bbq chippies for Tracy) and then got back onto the road.  
We made it to Cong a little after lunch time and spent an hour or so wandering through the remains of the old Abbey and its grounds.  This is a 12th century Augustinian abbey which has been destroyed and rebuilt several times over the centuries, although now it is just a shell, but the grounds it stands in are beautiful and well worth a visit.  The town itself is famous for being the setting of the John Wayne film “The Quiet Man” and there is a museum etc for that.  There is also a salmon hatchery and we could see why when we looked into the crystal-clear fast-flowing freezing-cold river flowing through the town.  We had a quick peruse through the TIC then headed to a local pub for a bite to eat.  Inside, there was a peat “fire” smoldering in the hearth; behind the bar was a lad listening to American counrty and western music, whilst playing bingo on his laptop computer and watching Sky News on the big screen in the front room.  We ordered our lunch; I wasn’t hopeful of getting much so I was pleasantly surprised with a decent beef pie and Tracy enjoyed her brie filled panini. After lunch, we went back into the remains of the Abbey for a couple more photos and then clambered back into Vinny to finish the trip to Galway.

Galway is the biggest city we have been in since leaving Dublin, the traffic congestion and roadworks were not a welcome sight. Eventually we made it to the camp site which is nestled on Galway Bay (Salthill Caravan Camping Park, Knocknacarra, Salthill, Galway (www.salthillcaravanpark.com).  We got an excellent pitch right on the waterfront. After we had established camp, we went for a sojourn along the waterfront promenade, Tracy walked and I ran.  Even though the wind is still cold and there were passing drizzles, there were still people out and about, walking their dogs, jogging, cycling, and even a dozen or so lunatics swimming in the freezing cold waters of the Bay! After making it back to the camp and showering etc it was time for dinner and a glass of wine.  As we watched the tide come in and the sun (very) slowly set, we noticed people were still out and about along the waterfront promenade. We recall the arguments about daylight-saving in WA, well, people here don’t seem to have any issues with nearly 17 hours of daylight (sunrise tomorrow is at 05:12 and sunset at 21:55) and people are actually USING the time! The twilight sailing that is happening at the other end of the bay started at about 8:30 and was wonderful to see so many boats out.