Ireland day 0816. Saturday 23 December 2023- Louisburgh Day 1

Today’s summary	Drove to Louisburgh, on the west coast of Ireland, to the cosy cottage where Val and I are spending a few days over Christmas.   An easy drive, not too much traffic, and a warm welcome when we arrived.   Pub for dinner in the evening
Today’s weather	Wild and wet.   Heavily overcast with drizzle or rain all day.   Strong to gale force westerly wind.  Appx 10c
Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of our route)			Close-up location (The blue line shows where we walked) (No GPX today)

Commentary

(Summary blog only.   Last full blog was Day 0368).

In a break from the tradition of perhaps the last 40 years, Val and I are spending Christmas on our own this year.   It’s been a pretty full-on year, with work, hospitalisations, and a house sale, so we felt we really wanted a bit of peace and quiet for a few days, before everything starts up again later in the week.

So – after a couple of cups of tea in bed this morning, we got up, packed our things (and the Christmas dinner!) into the trusty Yaris and set off down the M6 towards Galway.   Shortly before the end of the motorway, we turned off north up the M17 and headed into the wilds of County Mayo, and onwards towards Clew Bay.   Val has booked us into a small self catering cottage near the town of Louisburgh, and we’re staying here until the 26th.

It was a straightforward drive and our landlady had lit the fire for us ready for when we arrived late this afternoon.   The weather isn’t great (OK let’s be honest it’s awful) but there is something very therapeutic about sitting by the fire, listening to the wind howling in the chimney and watching the rain lash against the windows.   It’s very reminiscent of our trip to Doolin last January and I love it.

Anyway, it’s time to sign off now.   We’re going to a local pub (The Tavern at Murrisk) for dinner and I need to make myself look beautiful!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)

Rain pouring down as we stay comfortable and dry inside!	Enjoying dinner at The Tavern, in Murrisk, about 10 minutes’ drive top the east of where we’re staying
The view outside – our cottage is on the right; the landlady lives in the main house to the left

Interactive map

(No map today)

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