Hike Info:
Type:Touring, Car
Description:
I slept well, very well. Maybe
I should adopt sleeping on pads on the floor for the rest of the
trip. At 7:30 I woke up and looked at my phone. After last night’s
“activity”, we were able to extend our checkout time. Rachel has
had time to think through the situation and concluded that it would
be better to all go in an Uber rather than go and get the rental and
come back. I had come to that conclusion as well with the later time.
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| The river god of River Shannon |
This place has been
interesting as a place to stay. It was clean and we were able to
separate out. Of course, our incident from last night has left a pall
about the stay.
By 8, I am up. Being the last
day, it is time to eat the food which we can. I guess it is an excuse
to have ice cream with my granola. Note to Gary: Probably not a good
long term proposition, at least health wise. We get ready and Rachel
has an Uber pick us up at 9:15. Alan, our Uber driver, talks to us
about several places in the Galway
area which would be worthwhile visiting. We get to Hertz by the
airport a bit before 10, with a pretty good drizzle going on. There
is a long line which Rachel navigates for our car.
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| Almost good enough for a jigsaw puzzle |
The car is bigger than last
Thursday’s
car-much more leg room and more luggage room. Both are appreciated.
It is still raining pretty good now, so we waited in the Hertz
building for about 45 minutes until it cleared. Rachel is driving,
Steven is helping with how the car functions along with navigating
and Andrea is helping with the navigation and finding places.
The first stopping place is at
an Applegreen roadside store, near Castletown-this is probably a
wrong location. Applegreen’s is like the Circle K stores in the
Valley. But this seems to be a bit better than most of the stores in
the States. Such as they have fresh pastries and their coffee is more
than just black with some milk and sugar added. We stayed inside,
seated for about half an hour. This gives more of the rain a chance
to leave.
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| Church of St Peter and Paul |
As we ride along, I have
thoughts about a frequent thread: destination vs journey. In some
ways, this two hour drive plus stops are just a prelude to getting to
Galway. After all that is why we are making this trip to explore this
area which other parts of Ireland call tribal. But if that is all
this trip is, then why not spend most of the trip reading instead of
participating? Mind you much of what we are seeing are hedges and
roads. But there are breaks where we see old stone structures, stone
fences, fields, and farms. That should be interesting in itself.
Having my head on my phone deprives me of these. This is sort of like
life. If we travel through it only for the high spots, then we
deprive ourselves and others of the things which make this life
interesting.
About an hour away from
Galway, we stop off at a town called Athlone.
First, it is a bit hard finding a parking place. Then the castle
which we are interested in closed for reconstruction. But the rain
has stopped and this gives us a chance to stretch our legs. We go on
a circular route back into town. But the route we take leads us by
two things: a military base, which is closed off but has its own
memorial which we have heard is worth seeing. The second is the River
Shannon.
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| Merlin Castle |
We travel part way along the
Golden
Mile,
then cross over the River. Rachel leads us into the center of town to
a restaurant called Rustic
Roots.
There we have a late, relaxing lunch-Andrea and Rachel share a burger
while Sherri and I share a chicken cordon bleu which is really good.
Steven has Irish stew on a bread bowl. Afterwards, we returned back
to the car. We went past what I think is a bank, but could be a
castle or cathedral. Then recross the River Shannon, see the castle
on the other side. Then back to the car for more traveling.
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| Enjoying the Park |
Rachel must have this left
side of the road driving down pretty good. A few places which I know
I would be driving on the wrong side, she does without breaking a
sweat. She drives the remaining hour to Galway, parking in front of
our AirBnB. This is a two story place with all of the four bedrooms
on the second floor. It is really nice, probably a little smaller
than in Dublin, but has a bit more comfort. We also find out that the
dryer does a better job.
After resting for an hour,
Rachel proposes a walk around MerlinWoods
Park
.
The Park is about a third of a mile away and is very busy. There is a
cooperative garden just before the entrance. AllTrails says there is
a 1.6 mile loop around the park. Sounds good. It is pretty level and
paved or hard packed gravel. The main attraction is a castle called
Merlin Castle. To dispel any erroneous thoughts, Merlin never set
foot in it. Not sure why it is called that. It is more like a tower,
about 20’x20’ rising about 50’ up. |
| Dinner |
We then came back to the
AirBnB. Rachel and Andrea go on to the store to pick up some food for
the next three days. They fix potatoes, green beans and bacon, and
sausage. Pretty tasty. We discussed some plans for the next couple of
days. It is mostly dependent on the weather for what we will be
doing. We start to turn in around 10 with it still being light
outside. Sleep does not come to me until after 11:15.
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| Statue honoring the Athlone Brigade in the Irish Revolution |
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| One of the bridges across the River Shannon |
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| Merlin Castle |
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| Athlone Castle |
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| Placemat at the Rustic Root |
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| Self-explanatory |
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| Tradition is to put a lock on the Athlone Town Bridge to indicate the lock a couple has of their love |
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| Church of St Peter and Paul |
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| Merlin Castle |
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| Merlin Castle |
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| Rachel, Andrea and Steven in front of Merlin Castle |
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| All of us by Merlin Castle |
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| Gary, Steven and Rachel walking in Merlin Woods Park |
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