On the Road Again
October/11/2008 Ireland Journal
Our next destination was Cong, in County Mayo. We plan to take in the sights of rural County Mayo and to visit the picturesque village where the movie classic, "The Quiet Man," was filmed. Cong, we reckoned, was close enough to Galway, where we wanted to spend a full day touring before I presented a Monday program in that city to the members of the Irish PPA. Then we would spend a final day in Cong seeing the sights before we moved on.
Since we didn't have time to stop and photograph the scenery on our trip from Kilkenny to Donegal, we decided to make it a leisurely day of travel and picture-taking as we retraced our steps on the way to Galway. Fortunately the weather was on our side, so we had a really wonderful day of travel.
Our first stop was in the Donegal village of Bruckles, where I photographed this picturesque church, tower, and graveyard.
Then we paused to take one last look at the Donegal coastline before we headed inland.
On a whim, we decided to take a brief detour into the village of Ballyshannon, just because it had such a pretty name. We were rewarded when we found Ballyshannon to be set on a hill with a main street that wound through the town.
And on the outskirts of town, I was able to capture this photo of the town taken from a bridge over the river the bisects it.
When we reached County Roscommon on the main north-south motorway, we spotted the unusual sculpture of a man on a horse, which stood on a hill by the side of the road. We had wondered about it when we passed it on our way to Donegal, so we decided to pull into the lay by where the sculpture is located.
Turns out that this exquisite life-size metal sculpture was called "The Gaelic Chieftain," and it was inspired by the Battle of Curlews, fought in 1599.
Just as we were leaving the car park, I grabbed this shot of stone cottage with the mountains in the background.
On our long drive to Donegal, we passed through the County Roscommon town of Boyle, but we didn't have time to stop for photos. So on this trip we took time to look around this very appealing town, which I was sure would be full of lots of interesting pictures.
We decided to have lunch at the King House Shop and Tearoom, even though the house itself was not open to visitors after September. After viewing the grounds of the house and reading about this fully restored Georgian mansion and museum, I know we'll come again to tour the interior and visit the interpretive galleries.
After lunch we spent an hour or so just walking the streets of this wonderfully colorful town, catching pictures along the way.
Before we left, we took a walk around the Boyle Cistercian Abbey, which was founded by Maurice O'Dufy in 1161. These magnificent ruins are still undergoing restoration, and we got a good look at the process of literally relaying stone-by-numbered stone. I look forward to visiting this great structure again, as its atmosphere is extremely compelling.
As we drove into County Mayo, we could see the landscape becoming more pastoral. And everywhere there were sheep. Jim says this was the beginning of my desire to photograph every sheep in Ireland. Possibly so!
As we neared our destination of Cong, we were losing sun, but not more opportunities to photograph ruins . . . right along side of the road. Thank goodness for ASA 1600!
Since we didn't have time to stop and photograph the scenery on our trip from Kilkenny to Donegal, we decided to make it a leisurely day of travel and picture-taking as we retraced our steps on the way to Galway. Fortunately the weather was on our side, so we had a really wonderful day of travel.
Our first stop was in the Donegal village of Bruckles, where I photographed this picturesque church, tower, and graveyard.
Then we paused to take one last look at the Donegal coastline before we headed inland.
On a whim, we decided to take a brief detour into the village of Ballyshannon, just because it had such a pretty name. We were rewarded when we found Ballyshannon to be set on a hill with a main street that wound through the town.
And on the outskirts of town, I was able to capture this photo of the town taken from a bridge over the river the bisects it.
When we reached County Roscommon on the main north-south motorway, we spotted the unusual sculpture of a man on a horse, which stood on a hill by the side of the road. We had wondered about it when we passed it on our way to Donegal, so we decided to pull into the lay by where the sculpture is located.
Turns out that this exquisite life-size metal sculpture was called "The Gaelic Chieftain," and it was inspired by the Battle of Curlews, fought in 1599.
Just as we were leaving the car park, I grabbed this shot of stone cottage with the mountains in the background.
On our long drive to Donegal, we passed through the County Roscommon town of Boyle, but we didn't have time to stop for photos. So on this trip we took time to look around this very appealing town, which I was sure would be full of lots of interesting pictures.
We decided to have lunch at the King House Shop and Tearoom, even though the house itself was not open to visitors after September. After viewing the grounds of the house and reading about this fully restored Georgian mansion and museum, I know we'll come again to tour the interior and visit the interpretive galleries.
After lunch we spent an hour or so just walking the streets of this wonderfully colorful town, catching pictures along the way.
Before we left, we took a walk around the Boyle Cistercian Abbey, which was founded by Maurice O'Dufy in 1161. These magnificent ruins are still undergoing restoration, and we got a good look at the process of literally relaying stone-by-numbered stone. I look forward to visiting this great structure again, as its atmosphere is extremely compelling.
As we drove into County Mayo, we could see the landscape becoming more pastoral. And everywhere there were sheep. Jim says this was the beginning of my desire to photograph every sheep in Ireland. Possibly so!
As we neared our destination of Cong, we were losing sun, but not more opportunities to photograph ruins . . . right along side of the road. Thank goodness for ASA 1600!