Day 26, July 24, 2012

Today, we caught the noon ferry which took us from Inishmore (Inis Mor, in Gaelic) back to the Irish mainland. It was a rainy day today, which was not unusual. This summer has been the wettest summer since weather records were first recorded in 1910. The same has been true for the UK and much of Europe. If you're there in hot, dry weather in the United States, just know that this part of the world is not sharing the same experience.

We drove through the beautiful Connemara region today which is beautiful even on a rainy day. It's also a good time to see the water flowing down the mountain sides. We stopped at the Connemara National Park visitor center, saw an exhibit and film about thehistory of the area, then took a short hike to see a bog. Bogs have some interesting properties. If something falls in the bog, it will experience very little decay even over a period of hundreds or even thousands of years. Long ago, the inhabitants of the region would pull out tree trunks that had fallen into the bog centuries ago and use them for construction of their houses.

Another interesting place we stopped at on the way was the Kylemore Abbey. This was a beautiful castle-like house that was built in the mid 1800's as a wedding gift. We think that, considering such a beautiful setting in the mountains of Connemara, the gift was well-received.

We arrived in Westport a few minutes before 6 p.m. and checked into our B&B, the Augusta Lodge. We'll be here for two nights and it looks like we'll have an excellent stay.

I'm having a hard time persuading the rest of the family into listening to the Irish music. They don't start the music until 9:30 at night and, by that time, everyone is worn out. One of our hosts told us that there is a saying in Ireland that you don't leave the pub on the same day that you go in. It's not uncommon for the music to continue well after midnight.