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Since I have no alarm, I usually leave my blinds partially open at the B+B's to awaken me at first light of morning. This morning I squint at gray fog. Just
what I need to start a long bike to Cong. By the time I finish my shower at 7:30, the fog has disappeared, and after breakfast the sun breaks through and the day bids well. The coast road out of Galway is busy and unattractive. I move through the "ribbon"
communities of Salthill and Spiddal and while Galway Bay is pleasant, nothing else is. Traffic finally lightens up after Spiddal, and as I head north toward Maum Cross the Connemara Hills spread out before me, great gray mounds with lumpy foothills and gray valleys. By this time
traffic is very occasional, and the riding is wonderful. I have great rolling stretches of open road and the expanse is immense - unbroken by any trees with only low heather and shoulder high blooming-yellow gorse. I bike a little over 30 miles by noon, and I am beginning to have my daily craving for a hot coffee and scone. As luck would have it, a café looms ahead, and while the coffee is instant and the scone is a day old, it hits the spot, and chairs
outside in the sun make it perfect, especially since the view is of a very quiet little lake. Two couples invite me to join them. One couple is from England and the other couple is transplanted Brits now living in Brazil. By this stage of my day's journey I find myself stopping every half mile or so to take photos. I am not sure if the scenery has become that grand or whether I am getting weary and am finding excuses to stop.
On one of my stops I meet Kevin from Nebraska who is car-touring solo. He has been in Cong and is headed for Galway, which I tell him is a great city for single young people because they seem to make up the majority of the people on the streets. He is amazed at the variety of terrain in Ireland, adding,
"In five minutes the scenery can completely change. When you get to Cong, you'll see the hillsides and the Valleys turn deep green. In short order, you go from gray to green." Not to mention hills. What has been
rolling so far turns into some long climbs north of Maum Cross. I begin to see more bog and more turf cut. One fellow is out cutting turf, and when I stop to photograph the scene he even obliges me by stopping with a piece of turf on his slean (a type of peat shovel) so that I can
get the shot. The mountains are beautifully dappled in that Irish way as the clouds create a wonderful, superimposed animation over the hillsides. After I pass Mamm, Lough Corrib can be seen on my right including Castle Kirke on an island in
the lake. One heartbreaking corkscrew climb and a few long, tough climbs and I enter Cong after what has been a day of grand scenery. Lough Corrib is the largest freshwater lake in Ireland, and the views along its shore are wonderful. The lake has 360 islands, and they contribute to the lake's charm. Cong is situated on the end of the lough and is, in fact, in between loughs Corrib on the south and Mask on the north. It is also a salmon hatchery center, and my host turns out to be the hatchery manager. Maureen Varley, my hostess, is the warmest and most welcoming of all my hostesses. She puts on a pot of tea and serves me a salmon sandwich and cookies for a snack. It's just what I need at 4:00 p.m. after a 60 mile day. I chat with husband Matt and daughters Olivia, 5, and Emma 3, while a steady succession of young people come by for Maureen's tutoring of Irish, as they call it,
or Gaelic as we call it. I return to town for a cheese sandwich at Ryan's pub and a pint of Harp, and since Cong was the location for most of the scenes shot in The Quiet Man I take a walking tour of some of these sites in town. Tomorrow after a boat ride, I
shall continue my photo record of movie locations. After more tea from Maureen, I shower and pay Maureen in advance so that I will know for sure how much money I will have for Sunday. (184 miles) |
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