Somewhere in Connemara - not the Caribbean

It took the picture at this location so long ago that it doesn't have any metadata giving me the location. I just remember it was somewhere in Connemara, and the sand was white like in the Maldives, made of seashells or coral, and the sea was Caribbean turquoise. It could be Dog's Bay. I'm really not sure. I just remember this feeling of joy at discovering waters so clear and beautiful on the edge of the Atlantic, before Ireland even had created the marketing concept of the Wild Atlantic Way!

Painted on Half Sheet watercolour paper.

Inagh Lake

I've been thinking of this view of Inagh valley and lake for a good while now. We were there with my good friend Shinobu nearly four years ago! I actually did a watercolour sketch of it about a year ago. And I did think about values - the lightest light and the darkest dark beside each other. And I love my colour mixes on the mountains and in the trees. But my tall fir trees are a little stiff maybe. I don't think I've worked this view out of my system yet! But I've learned a lot from it!

One day in Connemara

With the motorway to Galway, it is actually now possible to go to Connemara for one day! You won't get to walk through the landscape, but you will see a lot of beautiful countryside all the same. And enjoy a pic-nic on the pier in Oughterard, a bit of shopping in Joyce of Recess, the seafood platter in the pub in Ballynahinch Castle Hotel, and an ice-cream in Roundstone

And if you're thinking of that song, you will find the lyrics here.

Roundstone

When we went to Connemara a few weeks ago, we went into Roundstone for lunch one day. Our experience last summer had been pretty awful. We had had a bowl of seafood chowder in a hotel on the main street, and it was vile - a watery, milky soup with thin burnt brown bread. And the waiter just didn't know what to do when we complained. He actually offered to give us another slice of the burnt bread! It was such a disappointment - we just could not find a decent place to eat at lunchtime anywhere in Connemara - food was of poor quality, and expensive, where-ever we went. We felt really ripped off. That no place could be bothered to make decent, simple, good-value food for tourists was such a disappointment. And such a reflection on the rip-off culture in Ireland!

So, this time, we made sure we did our homework before we headed off - 2 people recommended we try O'Dowd's. And we were not disappointed. We stopped in the bar for lunch - Brendan had a vegetable soup, I had a seafood chowder, and we shared a plate of squid. It was all delicious, homemade, and good value, and we were given 2 portions of homemade brown bread. The squid was perfectly cooked - not rubbery

It restored our faith in the Irish tourism industry.

Pictures are winter and summer views across the bay from Roundstone towards the Twelve Bens.

More pictures...

I'm still not 100% recovered from my throat and chest infection, so I'm taking it easy. I've worked through the week, but at a slower pace. Around 4 yesterday, I just had to put my feet up and take it easy for the evening - I was feeling very low on energy. After a good night's sleep (no coughing - a minor miracle!), I feel pretty good, but I won't be up to much today. Just getting laundry organised has got me feeling like I need a little rest.

The weather outside has just turned from bright blue skies to dark clouds, high winds and heavy rain. The perfect reason to stay in, pick up my book and relax for the rest of the day.

The picture below looks more like the Wild West than Connemara. I love the dark blue in the shadow of the mountain.


Bon Anniversaire, MaLouise

More pictures ....

A picture a day keeps the blogger away...

More pictures from Connemara

Busy busy run run, so not much time to write today. I prepared a few pictures yesterday, so I can present them on days I don't have time to write. This one is a view looking out from Killary Fjord. We were standing more or less across the road from the Killary Adventure Centre. A beautiful spot, right bang in the middle of nowhere.


Compare this picture to the one taken from the same spot last summer: Click on this link.

Les lacs du Connemara - pictures

Here is a picture taken last week on the main road that goes from Galway to Clifden. This is around Recess, as far as I remember. It's probably one of the most photographed spots in Connemara - Big mountains, blue lake, small island with photogenic trees, and also telegraph poles and cables!

How good resolutions take a backseat...

I was serious about going to the gym, and about drawing and painting, but I haven't done anything in the last week. Of course, I have very good excuses for this, which I'm going to go through now.

Last Sunday, we drove to Connemara (yes, I can hear the tune in my head ... "Terre brûlée au vent, Des landes de pierre..." - every time!) for a minibreak. We had decided that, after a busy family-oriented Christmas and New Year, we wanted a bit of time for ourselves. So we booked a 3-night stay in the Ballynahinch Castle Hotel in Recess. We had liked it so much in the summer, that we decided it was the perfect location for a winter minibreak.
While the weather wasn't perfect - this is the West of Ireland in the winter after all - we had enough dry weather to enjoy a walk on the beach at Dogs Bay and Gurteen Bay, near Roundstone (pictures in a previous post). And of course, the weather was glorious on the day we were heading back to Dublin. We saw some dramatic scenery in various weather conditions - mountains emerging out of the clouds for a brief moment, before disappearing again, perfect blue skies that bring out the orange colour on the ground, purple mountains in the dying light, waves on the lakes. Scenery that's not as easy to photograph as perfect blue skies of summer, unfortunately, but we took plenty of pictures all the same.

And of course the hotel was perfect. We had a river-view room. More modern than the room we had in the summer - Lovely bathroom, with a walk-through wardrobe and dressing area (with double doors leading through each - very Hollywood!); Nice big bed; Good central heating.

The food was excellent (the 3-night deal included 2 evening meals in their main Restaurant - well worth a visit). I had lobster one of the nights - I love food I can play with, and Brendan enjoys watching me wrestle with the claws. I had pan-fried scallops the other night. I can't remember what starters and soups were but all were good. Brendan enjoyed his lamb (cooked to perfection) and monkfish. And desserts, of course, were to die for - I had panacotta the first night (this is the only place I know that does panacotta - I'll have to go back to that recipe I found in the summer!). It was Baileys panacotta (but just a very subtle hint) with - wait for this - lavender coulis (well probably not a coulis - but Lavender! You would not have found this kind of food in Ireland 20 years ago!). Brendan had a simple but scrumptious flan one night and the special chocolate dessert on our last night, whereas I opted for a simpler, but nonetheless delicious, rice pudding with stewed plums.

And I had pan-fried liver for my breakfasts. I love liver, but Brendan doesn't. As he is the designated cook and I never think of asking for it, I don't get to eat liver at home! So, I enjoyed it all the more.

If you like good food, just book yourself a few days there. You won't be disappointed. Note that they are doing some refurbishment work in rooms on the 2nd floor. It's well managed and wasn't a problem while we were there. That's supposed to be finished by April I think. They're also talking about setting up a spa (though one of the duty managers said that she had been told to say "treatment rooms" rather than "spa". I guess they don't want to talk it up too much.) Well, I'll have to go back to check it out and report...

And we bumped into Alexis, who was there on her honeymoon. So I finally got to meet Pat, her husband. When I saw her first in the lounge, I just saw her in profile, and I wasn't sure it was her. But when we walked into the restaurant later that evening, I had to go over to their table and say hi (and thank God it was her).

So, I've only accounted for 3 days. What was I doing for the rest of the time? Well, I was sick. That's not very exciting so I won't go into the boring details of sitting up in bed all night to try and stop the coughing fits (and failing). Throat and chest infection - I don't know why I always think I'll be able to fight it off without antibiotics. I always end up needing antibiotics. Just as well I don't get sick very often.

I feel I have a lot of catching up to do. Plenty of things to paint and draw, and write about.

And of course, it will be back to the gym in the next few days, and back to yoga classes next Tuesday. I'm looking forward to it all (that and doing my P35s and P60s!)

PS: Pictures from Connemara to follow - I still need to sort through all the pictures we took.

Ballynahinch Castle Hotel, Recess, Connemara

We spent the weekend at the Ballynahinch Castle Hotel, in Connemara. We were in Connemara at the end of April (see my post of 30 April for the full words of the Michel Sardou song!) with Amex points, and, this time again, our weekend was courtesy of American Express.

Ballynahinch Castle Hotel was very nice - very quiet setting, lovely walks through the grounds, its own river and lake, excellent food, and very professional, friendly but discreet, service. We got a standard room. It was a little bit old-fashioned, but was very spacious and quiet, and had a perfect view of the mountains. And it even had wireless connectivity. There are lovely rooms downstairs where you can sit down and read a book by the fire in peace and quiet. Perfect if the weather is not.

My best food memories from the weekend were the seafood platter from the bar menu on Friday evening, and a special dessert plate for my birthday on Saturday night, with vanilla ice-cream, panacotta, nectarines, mocha vacherin and meringue (and a candle and Happy Birthday MHBD written in chocolate on the side of the plate!). Thank You, Brendan, for organising my special dessert! My eyes lit up when I saw the waitress walking across the room with her hand in front of the candle!

By the way, I didn't know what panacotta was before this weekend, so here is a link to a recipe. For any of you interested in food, I've also found a link to this blog which seems pretty good. (Not that I'd know - I don't cook much! I'll check with Brendan what he thinks of this blog.)

We didn't tour as much this time - we decided to stick close to the hotel. We walked around the grounds, by the river and by the lake, and we drove down to Roundstone and discovered a fabulous white-sand beach at Dogs' Bay. It was a little bit overcast, but the colour of the sea was wonderful all the same - subtle pale turquoisy-greens. I'm sure that with a bit of sunshine, we'd get the Maldivian blue! And temperatures were about 17 degrees (with a cold breeze yesterday, and perfectly calm today)

View across Killary Fjord

Busy busy today, so I'll just leave you with a nice picture.

Maldives or Connemara?

It took us a while to find it, but it was well worth it! I had been to Carna beach with Yves and Ingrid many years ago, and I remembered the white sand, but I wasn't sure where it was. Beautiful white sand and clear sea - with the blue sky and the sunshine, it gives the water a perfect Maldivian blue colour.

Les lacs du Connemara

Mention the Connemara to most French speakers, and the first thing that comes to mind is the Michel Sardou song. Or maybe it's just me? It was one of his big hits, and I'd say everybody from my generation can at least hum the first few bars. Unlike "La Mer" and "Li Bia Bouquet" (see March posts), I won't be able to sing this song to you, but I can hear it perfectly clearly in my head! Maybe I'll learn the words some day!

Anyway, we were in Connemara for the last few days. We toured around the whole area - Oughterard, Recess, Carna, Clifden, the Sky Road, Kylemore abbey, and we drove as far North as Westport. We were lucky with the weather - blue skies on Friday and Saturday. This morning was completely overcast and wet, but we didn't mind, as we were driving back to Dublin.

We stayed in the Abbeyglen Castle Hotel. Whatever you do, don't go there! It's in bad need of a face lift - cracks in the tiles and the ceiling in the bathroom, old furniture, thin walls, dilapidated snooker room, 2 parrots outside their cage in the reception area... It is supposed to be a 4 star hotel and it's part of the Manor House hotels, so we expected a much better place. Brendan had read a review about it on the morning we left that alerted us to these issues, so we were not completely shocked. As we had booked it using Amex points, at least it didn't feel like we had spent good money for such a place! It wasn't all bad - the rooms were clean, the food was good, there was free tea with scones between 3 & 5, there was a free champagne reception on Saturday, and there was a helipad straight outside our room window, and we saw a helicopter land, refuel and take off from the comfort of our own room. But if you're expecting 4-star comfort and luxury, this is not the place to go!

The most beautiful spot of all for us was Killary Harbour and Leenaun. According to Wikipedia, Killary Harbour is Ireland's only fjord. We were lucky to see it on a very still morning. The water was like glass and reflected the mountains and the sky to perfection. We took plenty of pictures. I'll share some of these with you over time.
Remember to click on the pictures to see them on full screen.

And now, the words of the song, of course:

Terre brûlée au vent
Des landes de pierres
Autour des lacs
C'est pour les vivants
Un peu d'enfer
Le Connemara
Des nuages noirs
Qui viennent du nord
Colorent la terre
Les lacs les rivières
C'est le décor
Du Connemara

Au printemps suivant
Le ciel irlandais
Etait en paix
Maureen a plongé
Nue dans un lac
Du Connemara
Sean Kelly s'est dit
Je suis catholique
Maureen aussi
L'église en granit
De Limerick
Maureen a dit oui
De Tiperrary
Barry-Connely
Et de Galway
Ils sont arrivés
Dans le comté
Du Connemara
Y'avait les Connor's
Les O'Connely
Les Flaherty
Du Ring of Kerry
Et de quoi boire
Trois jours et deux nuits

Là-bas au Connemara
On sait tout le prix du silence
Là-bas au Connemara
On dit que la vie
C'est une folie
Et que la folie
Ca se danse

Terre brûlée au vent
Des landes de pierre
Autour des lacs
C'est pour les vivants
Un peu d'enfer
Le Connemara
On y vit encore
Au temps des Gaëls
Et de Cromwell
Au rythme des pluies
Et du soleil
Au pas des chevaux
On y croit encore
Aux monstres des lacs
Qu'on voit nager
Certains soirs d'été
Et replonger
Pour l'éternité
On y voit encore
Des hommes d'ailleurs
Venus chercher
Le repos de l'âme
Et pour le coeur
Un goût de meilleur
L'on y croit encore
Que le jour viendra
Il est tout près
Où les Irlandais
Feront la paix
Autour de la Croix

Là-bas au Connemara
On sait tout le prix de la guerre
Là-bas au Connemara
On n'accepte pas
La paix des Gallois
Ni celle des rois d'Angleterre