Loughrea then Oranmore train station - 3 May 2023

3 May 2023 - Loughrea & Oranmore (Galway)

Tintin went to bed fairly early, slept well and is better than he expected to be 😊

It’s been a bit of a nothing day really - getting prepared to go to Galway tomorrow - in the rain!

So, who was Ed Sheeran’s Galway Girl? Had to Google! He invited the Northern Irish trad-folk band Beoga to his home recording studio for a week. He explained - “It was based on the fiddle player in Beoga, Niamh [Dunne]. She's married to an Irishman, a friend of mine. I had the band in my house for an extra day so I was like, 'what can I write about? She plays the fiddle in an Irish band... right, cool, let's write a song about that.' She inspired the first line but the rest of the song isn't about anyone, I just made up a story." Dunne is from Limerick, not Galway, but try getting that in a song!

Back to today! - we had some extra bread, so fed the ducks. They must be fed a lot as they’re quite tame - but still chomped it all quickly! Tried to give to the females, as the males were too pushy!

This is how easy it was to pay - contactless, no registration number needed - the way to go. Not like France of old, having to find the right place to buy the correct ‘jeton’ for a smelly, unpleasant to use ‘service’ station.

Tintin changed the chip setting in the engine, and was asking if I noticed a difference when driving today - um - no!

We needed to leave our space by 11am, so went to water up. It’s the first time Tintin hasn’t had the right attachment in all of our travels so far. However, he bodged it with some cable ties and it did the job!

I drove a couple of minutes up the road and parked up so we could visit the Portumna Castle & Gardens. Being the 1st Wednesday in the month - it was free admission.

The semi-fortified house was built before 1618. In 1826 it was being aired by the servants, with fires lit to warm the place - and ended up being gutted by fire - oops!

It felt cold to walk inside, much like the Irish workhouse did too - icy feeling despite being warm outside.

The ground floor is open to the public and it’s being restored by OPW. We’ve included photos of the boards - but just skip if not interested. To be honest, I think we would have been disappointed had we paid for today. Although, we can see the time, effort and money being put into the restoration. Plus the kitchen gardens were lovely.

Tintin had great fun trying to capture a bird photo - from the sound, my Merlin app said it was a white wagtail! They really do flit around at great speed!

Drove about 40 minutes to Loughrea. Nice enough looking out over the lake, but very close to a fairly busy road behind us, so weren’t keen on spending the night there.

Had too long a chat with an old man who was keen to know where we’re from, and just about everything else! He spouted on about the Channel Islands being tax havens and dodgy - I soon put him right about that. Seemed like a cantankerous person, and was pleased when Tintin rescued me and said lunch was ready! It wasn’t, but maybe better than being rude?!

Lovely to see a duck still having 10 of her ducklings - hope they survive.

Decided to walk into the town of Loughrea, but not that much of interest.

There were loads of noisy rooks nesting in the trees.

St Brendan’s Cathedral was huge, so had a quick look inside. The main object of the walk was to get some movement - only 8,000 steps - but better than none!

Dave had a treat! For the next 30 minutes driving - we were on the M6 (120km/h) - so smooth - couldn’t hear any squeaks or rattles - just as Tintin likes it!

We’re now parked up at Oranmore station in readiness to get the train into Galway tomorrow morning. I did my first parallel park in Dave - first time - quite surprised really!