Dreary outside but the adventure continues

After a great night out with a friend of Braden's from home, and quite a few locals, the young folks required a bit of a sleep in. If the truth be known, it was lovely for me too. I had not slept well in a couple of nights and was in need of prolonged downtime. I think that the 10 hours of sleep pretty much caught me up.

When I woke up around 9 it was raining and windy - attested by a blustery trip of 25 feet to our car, from the front door. I retrieved our dash cam in order to download yesterday's video, and the possibly soon to be censored audio, from the windshield. For reasons unknown, some of the portions of the earlier footage didn't upload properly but honestly, we don't need to watch every single moment of the travels in our rented Renault Megane.

I've grown to dislike the quirks of this vehicle. However, it gets us around and does provide comfortable seating. The fact that the car determines the use of the high or low beams on its own peculiar schedule and whim, is one of the most annoying. The constant "check tyre pressure" warning is getting tiresome. The pressure is just fine. The brake pedal squeaks when it is released. Believe me on these roads, that's a lot of squeaks.

Anyway, we got underway at the crack of noon, suitably fortified by breakfast, prepared partly to our own whims with what was in the fridge, with eggs and sausage on the side, prepared by Olivia. I must say having a couple of young cooks and dishwashers is a very nice perk to this trip.

The rain had mainly stopped by noon. OK, it was down to a drizzle, but it was certainly blustery and quite chilly. We bundled up and headed for Salthill on the edge of Galway Bay. It has a very long boardwalk (board concrete?), and I expected it to be deserted. Just goes to show that the Irish are a hardy lot as there were lots of folks out for a stroll along the Bay. If I were at home in weather like this, I'd have been curled up with a good book.

We decided to take the scenic road along the shoreline, heading to Connemara. Our final turnaround point was Clifden after we took the detour via Roundstone. Both are very scenic but it was very cloudy, sometimes a bit drizzly, and windy. Holding the phone still to take a picture proved to be a challenge. The road was long, with many a winding turn... Yesterday we drove down Corkscrew Hill en route back to Galway. Today we followed Corkscrew drive, although it was named The Wild Atlantic Way. I think the longest straight part was about 100 yards.

Murphy's Pub in Connemara - where Heather and I saw Connemara ponies last year

There was a short stop for cappucinos and wifi near Casla, and then we headed out again. En route we stopped at the Connemara marble outlet and of course it was closed. The pub/cafe was open. We all got a chuckle, along with a mini-bus of tourists, at the sign on a nice looking monument. Here it is. Actually I didn't know what the place was - there were a few cars parked and we were curious - and also in need of a bit of air after the twisty road.

Despite some queasy stomachs from such narrow twisting roads, we survived with breakfasts intact, all the way back to Galway. Having done a bit of grocery shopping after arrival on Friday, we each put together a bit of supper and settled in to watch a very old movie of Michael Palin's. It was of a train journey, with interruptions, from Derry to Tralee. Certainly it was dated but nice to watch.

I think it will be an early night. Tomorrow we will go out for breakfast somewhere in town and wander the streets of Galway City.