WEST - Day 2 - Shannon and Corrib

We woke to pouring rain.  This disheartened us greatly as we had made a plan with Mark, Phili, and Ben to go out on their boat.  We decided we would go anyway;  how often do you get invited  to cruise the Shannon?  Phili made us breakfast on the boat, and, despite the weather, we enjoyed almost two hours on the calm, reedy river where the grazing cows and sheep come right down to meet the multitude of swans.   We all disembarked at Clonmacnoise, a very ancient monastery  that houses seven temples, hundreds of graves, and some amazing carved tombstones.  Though our toes got soggy, it was  a profound and beautiful place, and it was really nice to spend a bit more time with Mark’s family.

John came in his car to fetch us back to Banagher, where Eileen served us another huge lunch before we headed off to Galway .  Thankfully, our windshield  wiper had been miraculously healed overnight, because, by the time we settled into our hotel, which was right by the Corrib River,  rain was coming down in buckets. We finally got up the courage to go out, and we stopped for dinner at the King’s Head pub. (Legend says it was given as a thank you gift to the Irishman who severed the head of Charles I).  The rain let up as we ate, so we took a late night walk along river and then turned in a bit earlier than usual.