On The Road to Cong, Glen Keen Farm and Cassiebawn Castle
/We’re on a roll! I was woken up by none other than THE SUN this morning! Even though it was an hour before my alarm was set to go off, I was anxious to explore more of Ireland sans umbrella!
We left Galway heading toward Northern Ireland. I considered this a transition day as we are making our way to Belfast. Our first stop was at the quaint little village of Cong with a walk along the Cong River and through the Cong Woods.
We saw the ruins of an abandoned 13th century abbey. Along the banks of the river, were ruins of what was thought to be a 15th or 16th century fish house used by monks of Cong.
We couldn’t leave this village without taking pictures for its pop culture claim to fame - the location where John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara filmed “The Quiet Man!”
We continued up the narrow road to what our guide book billed as “Ireland’s Largest Sheep Farm,” Glen Keen Farm. Our hosts Catherine and Jim presented an interesting and informative demonstration of sheep herding. I couldn’t help but spend time petting the border collies after they were finished!
We had one more site to see before dinner - on the way, we made a pit stop at the Clayton Hotel - gave off kind of a spooky vibe - no wonder…our guide said it used to be an asylum that was totally renovated into a high end hotel! How very Stephen King!
Our last site was quite beautiful. A view of Classiebawn Castle in Mullaghmore from the grassy cliffs overlooking the ocean. I took a moment to take it all in. I also took a lot of pictures!
We finally made it to dinner in an area not too far from our hotel in Donegal. As I was ordering from the menu, it suddenly dawned on me - I’d been in Ireland over three days now and had yet to have a Guinness! Well, that was easily taken care of!
Tomorrow - destination Belfast.