Tuesday 11 July

Still overcast but warm and dry, sunny at times. We covered the most distance of all days as we discovered the roads north to south are generally in much better condition than east to west.

Bog Flowers Near Aughterard

Peat Cutting near Aughterard

We followed the coast road through Galway and west along the bay before leaving the main road and heading north through the mountains.

This was generally narrow and winding...following river streams for the most part and obviously a popular cycle way as we came across many (carrying backpacks etc.) on many bends in the road!

Today we passed lots of peat bogs and took photos of the bogs and the drying logs. Rural Ireland still generally uses peat (turf) for fuel as it is cheap and plentiful but city areas depend more on oil for the most part and coal in open fires, as it is more efficient.

Low growing moss like wild flowers were glorious in these areas. The black faced sheep and goats were everywhere- including on the road through the hills.

Black Faces Near Oughterard.

'Joyce's Country' Mamm,

After the peat bogs were plantation pine forests... some young, some well established. A very pretty pine tree. We headed north to County Rosscommon mostly on narrow winding roads between 2 mountain ranges with lots of river crossings, and lots of cyclists appearing around bends at frequent intervals.

Most signs were only in Gaelic so we weren't always sure where we were going. We filled the petrol tank for the 3^rd time. Luckily our small Ford seems very economical. We recognise Service Stations ahead as they are mostly very familiar...Shell, Esso and Burmah!

Oh, and for those of you with young children! The big news on the radio (besides the annual unrest in Northern Ireland) here the last few days has been the release of the latest Harry Potter adventure. From what we can make out Harry is a boy wizard and the series follows his progress through life. The kids sure love them. We have heard many radio interviews with excited young ones who are already looking forward to the next instalment.

Boyle Abbey

Tonight we are have finally caught up with Mary Cooney (the lady I had been corresponding with) at 'Cesh Corran' in Boyle, County Rosscommon. It was like a home coming and meeting of old friends. We'll stay a couple of days before heading further north...don't know how far...that depends on the news bulletins coming out of northern Ireland!

Mary offered the use of her computer to scan and photos and send emails but we had a lot of trouble sending from 'Yahoo', whether it was the time of day or her system being too slow we aren't sure. The messages from Yahoo regarding our efforts were confusing and we aren't sure exactly how much went through...especially if the photos worked.