Truly stunning back roads of Ireland

After all the driving yesterday we felt that we should really make an effort to stop and get out and about a bit. We felt that although we had made progress in our journey it was a little wasted in the fact that we didn’t stop to take in much of the scenery, rather just saw it whizzing us by. So, today we decided to drive the back roads towards Galway, taking our time and enjoying ourselves. Though we have seen amazing and breath taking scenery since arriving in Ireland, what we saw today was just stand in awe stunning. We had taken a random back road that led us to the most amazing hill/mountain range with a gorgeous lake in the middle of it. It was completely and utterly breathes taking and whats more; there were hardly any other vehicles or tourists. It was fantastic. We had this large stretch of road and lake to ourselves and we spent well over an hour just sitting, exploring and taking it all in. As Chris climbed up the steep hill beside us I decided to see how well I could skim rocks seeing as all the lake rocks were smooth, flat slat ones. My personal best today was 7 skims which saw the raising of arms above my head and a large “WHOOOOO” in victory. Tasteful. I am glad we had the lake to ourselves! We had a leisurely lunch, took even more photos before heading off once more.

We continued to pass amazing hills and scenery, we dodged random sheep that wandered onto the roads due to no fencing (the farmers of Port would have discussed this fact inside their cars for hours I’m sure) We drove and drove until we began to tire and thought that we’d better find a nice spot to call home for the night, and as it happened, we found a secluded little spot by the beach. Lovely! As it was a warm day (to the point where I actually got burnt, boo to the sun!) there were lots of people coming and going from the beach. While there were no signs to indicate “no camping” the looks we got from some people were revolting. We put it down to the fact that they are mistaking us for gypsies, not tourists. Gypsies are real over here and are basically, a community of caravan enthusiasts who drive until they find a spot they like, set up there for weeks, months, years at a time, ruin it completely and then move on, having destroyed the land. For some reason the law is unable to stop these people from doing this, and it’s a real problem. Chris and I have had a little trouble finding spots that will allow you to camp, and even then you have to drive under ‘height restricted’ bars, we just make it really and we’re just in a Normal van. They are pretty determined to keep these sorts out. Anyhow, we assume that they mistake us for gypsies, that or we must smell really really bad; we didn’t get the luxury of a shower this evening!

written by

Chris and Emily on May 29, 2009 from Spiddal, Ireland

from the travel blog: Europe 2009

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