Apparently the first "mountain" I climbed is only a hill, called Abbey Hill. Still not too shabby, it's the right-most peak seen in this photo that I took on Monday evening from the park near Salthill:
Abbey Hill was a fairly easy climb. Mostly large, stable rock, at a gentle enough incline. At the top was a large stone pile and the intersection of several stone fences that cut the mountain like a pie. The peak of Abbey Hill can actually be seen in high res satellite images on Google Maps here.
Lunar landscape on Abbey Hill As I got near the top, I saw a man sitting on the peak, possibly wearing a hooded sweatshirt. He appeared to be sitting there, having a picnic with a bottle of wine next to him. As I got a bit closer, I realized the bottle of wine was in fact a person, and the man was the stone pile. By the time I reached the peak (I laid back and made my way to the large plateau area just below the peak to the north to give them time), whoever had been there was gone. I had the mountain to myself, it seemed and I lingered a good half hour or so, busting out my whistle to play a few tunes. After a while, a man and his young son came along. I left the summit to them and started making my way down.
Panoramic view from the peak of Abbey Hill
When I got back to the car, I decided I'd play normal tourist a bit and find Ailwee Cave. Not a difficult challenge, what with large signs for it all over the region and all, but I'd heard good things about it--plus... it had just been featured in an episode of Father Ted that I'd seen the night before!
Ailwee Cave is not just a cave--it's a showcave. And it's not just any showcave. It's Ireland's Premier Showcave. Seriously, its pretty impressive. It's very much developed with a visitor center, gift shop, cafe, guided tours and the whole works. The cave itself runs for something like a mile into the mountain itself. Only part of it is open to the tour, for obvious reasons, but most of it was big enough to walk around in, with a few chambers that were several stories high, including this one with a waterfall:
Back in the parking lot, is the starting point for a mountain walk up Ailwee Mountain, in which the cave is set.
Ailwee Mountain was a much rougher hike than Abbey Hill. There were a lot of short, but steep terrace sections that often involved a little bit of climbing on all fours, at least for stabilization. Nothing like true rock-climbing that would require equipment or spotting or anything, but not a simple walk, either. On top of that, much of the terrain was covered with scrubby grass, which actually made for difficult walking. The grass was generally just a thin layer of growth over the rocks, which did nothing more than to hide the gaps and loose, smaller stones. It was on this terrain that I did take a few small spills, mostly on the way back down, twisting my ankle and scraping up my wrist and hand a bit on one.
On top of that, the mountain just seemed to keep going and going. Particularly near the top, it was actually relatively flat. Large, sloping fields were frustrating as I kept trying to find the very peak. I finally set my sights on a large rock pile that appeared and made it my goal to get to that. It was certainly a local peak, although the field appeared to continue to gradually climb up a bit to the north from there, there didn't seem to be much indication that it was going to be much higher.
It was from this point that I texted-in the post below, describing the fantastic view that was to be had, seen in the round, here:
Panoramic from Ailwee Mountain.
After I made it down from Ailwee Mountain, I headed off to nearby Kilfenora, where I finally got to (re?-)meet Raeanne, and her husband Mike. Long-time readers will remember me mentioning Raeanne in several of the early posts, as she was very helpful in providing info and advice during the planning stages of this trip. She immigrated to Ireland from my own hometown several years ago after studying abroad here and meeting and marrying Mike. We chatted for a while about home and Ireland over a pint at Nagles Pub in downtown Kilfenora. Unfortunately, I had the camera in my pocket the entire time, but forgot about it until I was about a mile down the road. So, no pictures of Raeanne and Mike.
By this point, it was dinner time, but I still had plenty of daylight, so I headed down the road to the site of my favorite memories from my previous trip: Ennistimon. My return to Ennistimon and the reflections on the prior trip--particularly Cooley's House pub--are worthy of their own post, which will hopefully follow tomorrow. But if you haven't already, I highly recommend as a primer, reading my thoughts on my first trip there: A nod towards Ennistimon.
I left Ennistimon as the shadows were getting long, and made my way towards the coast, taking the lengthy, scenic coast road all the way back around and into Galway, stopping frequently to take pictures of the gradually setting sun over the Atlantic, and nearly full moon rising over the Burren.
Sunset over the Aran Islands--my next mini-trip destination??? All in all, it is difficult to imagine how the day could've been much better, other than to have possibly had someone to share it all with.
But that's where you come in.
But that's where you come in.
1 comment:
That first picture of Abbey Hill reminds me of Pactola Lake in the Black Hills. The second and third ones are reminiscent of the Badlands. Nice memories all.
So - a month til you come back. Are you contemplating staying there? Or do I get to see you when you get home (Finally!)????
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