Saturday 6th August
A damp morning as we packed away our things from Craggy Cottage and tidied around. We stayed in to handover the keys to Jo the owner, then by about 11am we were away. We drove through Galway and out the other side into Connemara.
M spotted a sign for “Brigit’s Garden” with a cafe, so we headed off down a side road to find it. It was a really good choice, as the rain held off for most of the time we were there. We had a tasty lunch (and very nice carrot cake and cookies), then had a wander around the gardens which were lovely, lots of different themed areas and sculptures.
One of the sculptures asked that people add to it with things from their pocket or bag. I dived into the mummy bucket-bag and hey presto found a plastic charm from a cracker – perfect!!…
fairy princesses…
The girls and us had a great time exploring. As we viewed the massive sundial (largest in Ireland and who are we to argue) the rain arrived, so we decided to head back to the car and carry on. We drove on to Clifton where we picked up a few supplies from Lidle and spoke to Eileen who owns Aisling Cottage. She gave me a long list of instructions which I quickly lost track of, she then said she would meet us and asked us what car we were in. I told her and asked her what car she was in, I definitely heard her say “gold”, but the make was a mystery, I asked again and getting a similarly unfamiliar sound in response said “ok – great” hung up the phone and set off in the general direction hoping there weren’t too many gold coloured cars along our journey. At a moment of particular head-scratching, we took a road choice and found that we were being followed by a gold car, so spent some time wondering if we had gone the wrong way and Eileen was chasing us. We found the turning I was expecting and shortly afterwards found Eileen in a gold Range Rover (which was not what she said – I can tell you that!). I am glad she was there to guide us on the last section as you wouldn’t have found it on the off-chance!
Eileen showed us round the cottage – it is lovely! Really posh, but the best thing is the view out of the sitting room window – right across a lake to the mountains – spectacular.
Eileen’s house is next door. The girls were also really chuffed as they have access to all the playthings in the garden including a trampoline (let’s hope it stops raining), a swing, a sandpit and a treehouse with a slide!!! Eileen also has 2 children a boy of 6 and a girl of 5 so Fidget is keen to meet them in the garden.
Sunday 7th August
This morning started with the ominous sound of rain pounding on the velux windows. FIdget wanted to go out and play after breakfast but I said the door was locked, to which Squidge shouted “key!” – ran into the kitchen – got the key and headed to the front door, much to the amusement of Fidget, luckily for me she couldn’t get it in the keyhole!
We drove out to Clifton and started at the tourist information office, then went onto a very nice bookstore to buy a map and a book of Irish Fairy tales for the girls (no books at this cottage). We had lunch at a bakery and picked up some cakes.
We drove out towards Ballyconneely and stopped at the Coral Strand beach. Squidge was asleep but the rest of us had our cakes. I was then about to take Fidget out for a walk on the beach when the rain started. We got nearly to the shore, but were getting quite wet already, Fidget wanted to turn back, so we headed back to the car. The rain kept on coming and got worse.
Eventually Squidge woke up and was keen to see the beach so went for a walk with M.
We decided to carry on, M thought that given the direction of the rainclouds that carrying on to Roundstone wasn’t a good idea. So instead we went along a little road towards Mannin Bay. There was a field with a sign that suggested you could drive in as long as you shut the gate, so I was a bit scared, but M said lets give it a try. We parked up and walked to the beach.
It was a fantastic beach, the paddling was incredible. The water was so clear, really calm and the beach was gently shelving, so you could walk out quite far.
We all walked out, there was a crab that came out to see us. It ran in and out of the sea-weed a few times then scuttled towards M’s legs which Fidget was trying to climb as if he was a coconut tree while he was busy taking photos. 
Shortly afterwards we saw two seals swimming just further out in the channel just beyond some human swimmers.
We carried on paddling and exploring for a while. But then both Fidget and Squidge got pretty wet and the rain had started to return. We walked up to the car, just in time to jump in before a bull charged past us.
We stopped by the shops on the way home, then headed back for tea, trampolining, bath, milk, journal writing, Mr Men stories then bed.
M and I sat down to enjoy the view in a very civilised manner.
Monday 8th August
The weather this morning was not promising, you could hardly see the 12 Bens for the heavy mist. But undaunted and all optimistically dressed in our shorts we set out for Roundstone and the beach at Gurteen Bay.
Our drive took us across the bog road…
The sun was shining when we arrived, though a strong wind was blowing a short rainstorm in. We got the beach shelter up in a hurry by which time the rain had passed and the sun was shining down warmly. One thing that you can certainly say about Irish and Connemara weather is it is changeable – stay in one place long enough and you are sure to have good weather to enjoy it eventually!
The water was so clear and inviting, this beach was quite steeply shelving with no seaweed, just a clear view to a sandy-bottom (oo-er missus). So I decided to take advantage of the sunny spell and have a swim.
The water felt freeeeezing, I guess because the sun was out and surprisingly warm. I had a good go at swimming though it was pretty unbearable to get my whole body in!
M had a swim too (though with considerably less squealing and fuss). And after a bit of a play it was time for lunch, just in time to shelter from another rain-shower.
I had another quick swim after lunch, but it really was tooooooo cold! So got dressed and did a bit of paddling and exploring our little island.
After a while we packed up the camp, took most of the kit back to the car and went for a bit more of a walk along the beach. It was beautiful and absolutely deserted.
When the girls are a bit older we will definitely come back to Connemara, ideally with wetsuits for all. The bay was very sheltered and we saw people windsurfing, sailing and kayaking – which all looked good fun in such beautiful clear water.
Another rain shower came by as we sheltered behind some large rocks. We then walked back and drove to Roundstone. We had a wander round, including visiting a nice play park, a boron maker and a pottery. We had scones for tea at a nice little cafe, then drove home for showers and baths all round before bed.
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