My wish for today was to be able to visit Scattery Island, the island home to Saints Senan & Canir's ruined monastery, but the sailing was scheduled for 9:00 am and there wasn't any way for us to get there in time. Plus, today's weather may have cancelled the trip. This original plan made for a very short day traveling from Carrig Island to Kilrush and included a 20 minute ferry ride.
Setting off from the B&B we stopped at 550 meters into the ride to walk through Carrigafoyle Castle. It was built in the late 1400s and was once surrounded by water. Now the water is only on the backside of the castle. It used to be 5 stories high, and we were able to visit 4 stories plus what is now the open top. The architectural ingenuity of a time gone by still amazes me.
Carrigafoyle Castle which opens at 10:00 am. We arrived at 10:04 and were so disappointed because it was still locked up. However, our B&B host arrived shortly afterwards with the key to open it up to the public.
After reading the history of this castle and surrounding lands, we set off on our ride once again. The skies are very cloudy and the wind is blowing once again, but not the cold bitter wind of yesterday. The roads were very quiet as we worked our way along the farmland to Ballylangford.
Quiet roads along farm after farm with these black and white gals.
From Ballylangford we continued on to Tarbert where the ferry terminal is located. We had time to kill before catching the ferry so we read the 13 historical plaques about the history of Tarbert and surrounding area. With 9 minutes to go, we jumped on the tandem and raced along the final 2 kilometers to the ferry terminal.
Just couldn't pass up a photo of this shiny spot in Tarbert.
As we rode up to the terminal, there was a long queue of cars waiting and the ferry was just coming into the pier for landing. We rode past the cars and sat at the front of the line and watched it dock and the cars roll off.
At this time of year, the ferry runs every half hour. It is a 20 minute crossing, so there are now 2 ferries going back and forth between Tarbert and Killiman.
A bus was waiting to load on for the trip back across. We had to watch it maneuver onboard and it parked in the center of the ferry. Do the people on the bus get off and mill around like we did?
Now we had only 9 kilometers left until we arrived in Kilrush. Luckily our B&B here was ready and allowed us to check in at 1:00 pm. We did our best to stretch the ride out. We wandered around Kilrush, an Irish heritage town, and visited the Museum of Irish Rural Life and the Ferguson Museum. The Rural Life museum is mostly a collection of items collected by Joe Whelan over his lifetime, and includes many items from the Whelan family farm circa 1854. There were historical artifacts from the early 1800's to the end of WWII. Joe Whelan met us in the Ferguson museum and gave us a personal tour of much of both museums. He is the owner, curator, guide, and conservator of the two museums and is extremely proud of his heritage.
The red building is the newly opened (March 2024) Ferguson tractor museum.
The 1936 Ferguson-Brown with the newly invented hydraulic lift and three point hitch linkage system invented by Harry Ferguson. This system is still used on tractors today.
Joe Whelan has quite a collection. And has all the history painted on the walls - such as the hand shake agreement with Henry Ford which brought the Ferguson tractor to the US.
Dave VowlesYou see that yellow 135? The one with the lights and the '135' in the black circle on the side? Forget museum piece, there are still at least three of those (in faded red) still working in our valley in the Ariege! The brakes are hopeless, when they go straight down a slope they have to drag a plough or heavy weight so they don't run off into the stream at the bottom! I know several local French farmers who would be ecstatic to visit that museum shed, if they could read the English that is... We're glad you're still enjoying the ride, 'managing' the weather and on schedule with no mishaps! Here's to the next 2/3 of the journey :-) Reply to this comment 3 months ago
Painting on the building housing the Irish Rural Life Museum. This museum contains much of the equipment and personal belongings from the homestead of Joe Whelan's family. He was so happy to share his stories with us.
rod dayOne of the things I loved about Ireland was the brightly coloured buildings many with "pictures" painted on them. Reply to this comment 3 months ago
These two logs have been reclaimed from bogs and both have been carbon dated. They are still wood. The lower log dates back 4000 years while the upper log dates back 8000 years. Utterly amazing. Joe says there are many, many trees buried in the bogs.
I have always wondered what peat was. Joe taught me all about it inside his museum. He had pictures showing how it is cut and laid out to dry. He had dry bricks of it to show us. He also gave us a magnifying glass so we could see all the "stuff" buried in each brick of peat. Truly an educational visit.
Note to ourselves: No rain. Somewhat cool. Still windy, but not a cold wind like yesterday.
Accommodation: We're staying at Zoe Bistro & Accommodations. Old historic building, but our room is very modern. Tandem parking is protected indoor, but the beast is too big for its parking spot. And then the breakfast we consumed at Zoe Bistro was fantastic. The owners used to work at a large hotel/golf course complex until it was bought by Trump. They are running this place like a fancy hotel, too. A definite must stay and must eat here!
View from the Captains saddle: End of the second week
It is interesting how quickly one can become used to riding on the "other" side of the road. One morning mid-week as we took off, I instinctively headed for the left shoulder. As we rolled down the street, I had a moment where I had to really think about it, because it didn't feel like I was on the wrong side of the road.
We completed the week with no more flats. The road conditions have been a little better this week. A lot of credit goes to being on more main roads. It is a bit of a trade off because we have to deal with a more traffic. The weather has been amazingly good compared to what we had prepared ourselves to have to endure. The bike handles very well in wet conditions, even on fast descents in the pouring rain. We have a quiet tandem this week thanks to re-tightening the eccentric, and reversing the direction of the Gates Carbon Drive belt. Although the belts are not directional, apparently they develop a preference for direction after a bit of time in use.
Today's ride: 28 km (17 miles) Total: 897 km (557 miles)
