6/20/20 – Three and a half months of lockdown with only a few short jaunts outside of Peachtree City, cancellation of our Prague trip (postponement actually), and a general stir-craziness have meant we needed to get in some true vacation time. Solution: six hour drive, in the convertible, to a beachside rental and a week-long dose of sun and surf.

Rolled in Saturday a bit late for the beach but still did a night stroll – very dark, but the sound of the waves very relaxing.

6/21 Sunday saw us up a little early for a short beach visit – only an hour – as we had plans to meet some people in town a which ultimately fell through, but had us in town anyway so we spent a few hours wandering Old Town and having an afternoon meal at the classic Columbia Restaurant – best Cuban food in Florida.

Later in the evening we sat outside at The Reef for some appetizers and cocktails while watching the surf.

Been a while since I’ve posted – the fall was busy but not much travel – lots of personal health stuff for us, although we did get to two Michigan games and visited family at Thanksgiving in Michigan too.

But welcome to 2020, and our first ‘vacation’ trip of the year… this weekend Miami! A couple of months ago I bought tickets for us to see New Order and we will actually do so TWICE – Friday and Saturday night. Updates to follow of course.

So – in the airport now, waiting for flight to Ft Lauderdale – staying in Hollywood Beach right on the boardwalk – mere walking distance from Hollywood Brewing – which may just gets some late night patronage upon our arrival…

Long travel day, but survived it – DUB-JFK-ATL. Some stats from the trip:

Flights/Miles flown: 10,071

Kilometers driven: 930

Steps/miles walked: 77,650/36.2 (according to my iPhone)

Mussels/Oysters consumed: 120/20 (across multiple meals)

Bands watched: 6 (including pub musicians who play together often)

Pubs visited: 15

Cuban cigars smoked: 2

Graveyards visited: 5

McNamaras found: 33 (not sure all are relations)

Different brands of Scotch brought home: 7

…

Next trip not for a few weeks…stay tuned!

…a bit round-about, but up today needing to get back to Dublin by evening, for our flight home Sunday morning. Since we basically had all day, we decided we should see more of Galway and Mayo before hitting the motorway back to the airport hotel.

Our Route curled to the west and north of Cong, into the mountains of Mayo and up along the Atlantic coast (known here as the Wild Atlantic Way).

The hairpin at Leenaun gave great views of the thin split of ocean that comes well inland, we encountered a Garda rural road warden who walked around and inspected the car before we could proceed.

From Delphi north we hugged a lake in the Doolough Valley, at the top end of which is a memorial to dark event during the Great Famine, where hundreds walked 10 miles in the bitter cold to try and get food or tickets to a workhouse, only to be refused and sent back the way they came. Hundreds died of cold, hunger and exhaustion.

The northern coast road from Louisburgh to Westport was scenic, and then we shopped and walked around Westport which was teeming with people on a relatively warm dry day.

From Westport we then went through Castlebar and down a pretty straight shot back to Dublin. Despite my growing head cold, we are now settled and ready (if not that willing) to head home tomorrow.

One full day here in County Mayo before we start heading back to reality. We stayed over in Cong, a small village famous primarily for (and cashing in on) being the setting for the 1952 John Ford film The Quiet Man. (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045061/ in case you have been in a cave for the past 65 years). Did our tourist bit and made sure to hit some key sites.

Beside all of this trivia, Cong is also home to a very cool 13th century abbey (the site was actually an abbey originally in the 7th century, but current ruins only date from the 1200s).

And Cong is also situated on extensive preserved forest land that was once owned by the Guinness family, including nearby Ashford Castle. We hiked about 4 miles of trails and climbed the Guinness Tower, built by (certainly at the direction of) B.L. Guinness in 1864. At the time it would have commanded a view for miles around, but now the trees have outgrown it and the view is limited.

Lough Corrib is the largest fresh water lake in Ireland and both Cong and Ashford Castle are situated nearby. We took a two hour lake cruise – primarily out to the island Inchagoill in the center, which is home to the ruins of both a 12th century and a fifth century church and grounds, the latter said to have been built by St. Patrick when he was exiled to the island by pagan Irish druids. We had a guided tour of the ruins, then back to Ashford and the public dock.

Ashford Castle – 1288 – owned by Guinness family 1852-1938

Tomorrow, we leave Cong and will head west into Galway and Mayo before heading back down to Dublin for our trip home…