Connemara

Its difficult to know what to write without sounding repetitive. Have just spent 3 glorious days in Connemara, a part of Co Galway famed for rugged countryside. It was spectacular and wonderful, just as everything on this holiday has been so far.

Stayed at a hostel on the shore of Killary fjord, which advertises itself as being the only fjord in Ireland. I was kinda expecting a glacier, but apparently fjord simply means deep narrow channel. There ya go, who said that logs weren't educational?

The first day was spent walking 20 kms with my trusty French companion Sebastian. We walked along the fjord to the Atlantic ocean. Unbelievably, we found white sandy beaches and a scuba diving centre. Even more unbelievable was that there were pasty white Irish families swimming in, a move which I described as close to child abuse.

We were joined by our American friend Christy (sorry if the spelling is wrong) on the second day, which was another 20 km adventure into the small town of Leenane and beyond. No walking trip would be complete without a pint, which I think made the spectacular scenery on the way back all the more exciting. Quote of the day belongs to Christy, who expressed surprise when a sheep baaed, saying 'they really do baa!'. Thats right Chris, although you know that they bark after sunset when they are on the hunt for human blood.....

On the third day myself and a the lovely Mireille from Quebec hitchhiked to and from a little town. This was another first, hitchhiking for me conjures up images of Ivan Milat style men carrying shotguns and driving massive black utes, however it is a testament to just how friendly this place is that everything went very very well. It was nice to be picked up by natives. Its been very difficult to find Irish people here, someone may well think that French is Ireland's first language. I asked one French couple why so many came to Ireland to holiday. They answered that the Irish and the French had one big thing in common, they both hate the English. This seemed a perfectly reasonable answer.

Back in Galway city now. Going to spend a couple of days on guided tours before heading back to Dublin to spread some charm at employment agencies. Miss you all.