Abbey Glen
We have booked a one-night package stay at a castle hotel in Clifden which is near the western coast. When we get there our room is not ready yet and we are hungry, we check out the bar area and enjoy a midafternoon light snack. We figure we need food in us because our package starts with a history of the castle presentation with free prosecco at 6:30pm. Before we get there, we wonder if this really is an old castle - yes, it is. While we are here, we debate if there are any additions to the original buildings and decide we don't want to know. Our room is on the second floor right next to the main staircase, so I am pretty sure we were in the original building.
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| Welcome |
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| Her Majesty |
At 6:30pm promptly we wander down the steps to the bar area to find it quickly filling up with people and we settle for 2 bar stools. We are given a glass of prosecco each and then a man who turns out to be our host for the evening asks us where we are from and if he can take our photo. He makes some small talk and somehow, he and Jeff our talking about sailing. They both lament that they no longer have sailboats. He now is sailboarding because he can easily do it in the middle of the day. The next day we will see a group of people out doing it and I wonder if he is part of the group. Back to the talk. Abbey Glen castle was built in 1832 by John D'Arcy. Just a few years later he would divorce his wife and she would get the Abbey as part of the settlement. It would later become an orphanage which it was until 1955. It would sit derelict until the 1960s when a local couple bought it and turned it into a hotel. They would later sell it to the Hughes Family. Seems our host is actually a second-generation owner of the castle and he is quite the storyteller. As he goes along in his stories of the area, we learn things like John D'Arcy started the town of Clifden and built a second castle which is now in ruins nearby, Marconi picked a nearby site for this end of the first trans-Atlantic telegraph which lasted until the Irish Rebellion in 1916 when it was burned down. We also learn of 2 pilots Alcock and Brown who landed their plane after the first trans-Atlantic flight in June 1919 in a nearby bog (kind of ended up as a crash landing since it promptly was mired in mud). After all his stories and probably 2 glasses of prosecco since they kept refreshing so we could do hip, hip hoorays for these historical figures, it is time to head upstairs to the restaurant for dinner.
The dinner is a prefixed dinner with several course which we have noticed is popular in Ireland. We start with a main course each then move onto a palate cleansing course of champagne sorbet. From there onto our main dishes and finally a nice dessert. All the while our host is mingling with everyone and placing little flags on the tables. Everyone gets an Irish flag and if you are not from Ireland, you will also have a second flag that is your homeland. Naturally we have an American flag and see several others around plus a Candian, New Zealand and a couple of European ones. After dinner we wander around the grounds just a little before heading back inside. Remember it is still quite light out since we are so far north. I remember the write up had mentioned music in the bar at night and we suddenly hear people singing so we peak our heads in and yes there is a live piano player, and 3 people are kind of doing karaoke. Someone points seats out to us and thus we will spend the next couple of hours listening to the piano player do a mixture of light rock and traditional Irish songs. We are quite lucky in that one of our fellow guests sings quite well and agrees to sing several songs. We sit back and enjoy with a glass of Irish Whiskey each till the piano player says good night to us all.
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| Lovely Bar |
The next morning it is back to the restaurant for a cooked breakfast and then sadly time for us to leave. We are however first going to take the advice of our host and do their 3 mile walk in the area which starts down at the beach road (remember I said we were near the coast). The walk goes close to Clifden Castle, so we make a slight detour to include it in the walk. John D'Arcy built a second castle after his divorce thus Clifden Castle. He lived in it for a while as did his family, but by the late 1800s it was abandoned. Today it is a castle ruin in the middle of a farm with cows nearby. I mention the cows because they have made it to the castle at times so you have to watch your step. The castle would have had gorgeous views of the nearby bay. One last thing, there are 4 large standing stones on the road to the castle. No one is sure if they are truly ancient or were for the joy of the D'Arcy family. Back in the day, rich families put stones like that on their walkway. However, one of these rocks, has some neolithic minerals in it so they aren't sure of its origins. We enjoy the walk and then head back to Abbey Glen and our car.
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| Clifden Castle |
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| Two of the standing stones |
Before we leave the area, we head into town to explore it. Clifden was built/planned by John D'Arcy. It has a nice little downtown and a little square area with a statute of the two pilots Alcock and Brown. After a few minutes of wandering around we get in the car and head out.
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| Clifden |
Ashford Castle
We did not stay here; we came for lunch. This is the castle I had read before we went to Ireland as THE castle to stay at. Then I looked at the price and on my budget all I could stay in was a separate building and that did not meet with my goals thus the other 2 castles. As we walked around, it is truly gorgeous, but it was also stuffy. Like lots of security even to get on the grounds and then we were escorted to the restaurant - no wandering around on your own in the building. After our meal, we were able to wander the grounds some and like I said it is really pretty.
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| Ashford Castle has hosted many dignitaries and a couple U.S. Presidents |
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| Used in the film The Quiet Man starring John Wayne |
Lough Rynn
Our last 2 nights in Ireland will were spent at Lough Rynn Castle Hotel. It is in the town of Leitrim which is in the middle of the country which I know now is "The Hidden Heartlands". I think they need a better marketing name I mean the east is "Ancient East" and west is the "Wild Atlantic Way". I digress. So Lough Rynn wasn't truly a castle, but a Victorian Manor built over 200 years ago. It was the ancestral home of the Earls of Leitrim. However, there was a castle here in the 12th century that belonged to the Mac Ragnail family. Then in the 18th century the Clements family buys out the land and some other land in the area and the son becomes the first Earl of Leitrim. The house would not be completed until 1889 (built in stages with the last being a grand baronial room). Then some intrigue and probably Irish independence fighting sees an earl get assassinated and the house falls to a nephew. As part of the Irish Independence, a lot of the big estates were broken up with parts being sold off by the new government and that happened here. In 1969 the house and what was left of the land was sold off but left in disrepair until 1990. One thing the house was supposedly known for in its heyday was its walled gardens. The hotel group has refurbished those gardens, and they are quite nice. The house sits on a lake - lough so there is a very pretty view and there is enough land that Jeff and I plan a run our last morning.
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| Lough Rynn |
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| Our room |
Arigna Mining Experience
When we checked out the things to do around Lough Rynn we saw another castle, another pretty view and oh a coal mine tour. We went for something different - the coal mine tour. This mine was the last working mine in Ireland, but even so has been closed since 1990. It was eye opening at times and very interesting because with a guide who is a former coal miner you do go down into part of the mine - all very carefully controlled for safety. The mine had both iron ore and coal, but we are just talking about the coal. The coal here was thin horizontal streaks - say about 2 feet tall. As part of the mining process, men would have to lay on their sides and dig the coal out. They were often laying in a puddle of water for 6 hours or so since their workdays were 8am to 2:30 with a lunch break down in the mine.
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| Man laying on side using a hydraulic pick |
In later years a nearby coal powered electrical plant opened so they looked for ways to produce more coal and started to use an electrical machine to break up the coal. It was faster but took 3 men to operate it. It was an interesting hour or so and made you respect the men who did the mining.
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| Electric shoveler |
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| Cable system to haul carts to surface |
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