Irish locals love a chat

Today we woke up, had our free toast from the hostel and headed to get bus snacks for later in the day. We then jumped in a taxi and headed to the Cregmore Park golf course. The driver was a character, telling us about how bad the public transport system here is (despite profiting as a taxi driver) and how much new infrastructure is made by Americans. We learnt that he was from Togo and all about life there. He was so amazed we were from Australia and kept asking us questions about home. We finally got to the golf course and he told us to call him when we needed to get back.
We went into the pro shop and got everything we needed to play. The man gave us lots of extra golf balls...
The course was quite muddy and the rough was very long but we eventually got used to the clubs and had some good shots. I was able to actually use the driver, which I cannot do in Australia so that was a plus. I played a solid round and had a lot of fun. We had a guy catch up to us, give some coaching tips and also give us a tip on the horses for race week. Everyone is so friendly here and always up for a chat. We headed back to the pro shop, tried to call another taxi but finally caved and Erin called our friend. She said he immediately knew she was the Aussie and said he was on his way. The man at the pro shop gave us a free coffee while we waited which was lovely. Our friend the taxi driver arrived and we headed back to town. The conversation was similar and we drove a different way back so he could show us more of the town.
We then grabbed our bags and headed to the coach station, but the bus we wanted to catch was fully booked. So we had to go to the pub to kill time. Erin attempted to download multiple betting apps to place bets on the races and found some weird app where you can also bet against winning? Then it was time to jump on the bus to Clifden. The journey was pretty and the town was very cute. We headed up to the castle where we were staying and there was a helipad... We knew we were definitely out of place, but then quickly put in our place when we entered our 'economy' room. Literally just enough room for a bed and you had to duck to get into the bathroom.
We headed back into town for dinner and the waitress was so friendly. She asked us about our trip and was surprised we were staying at the castle. She told us to watch out for the owners son as she knows the family, which was hilarious. It seems to be a small tourist town where everyone knows everyone.
We headed back to the castle for a drink and there was some live piano playing. There seemed to be a lot of Americans staying which was interesting. A older man across from us struck up a conversation (no it wasn't the owners son) but he was a local. He told us about his mates business which is beach horse rides (!!!!) so I'll have to come back when we have more time. Erin was doing the heavy lifting with the small talk so we politely excused ourselves and headed back to our small room. We had a massive day meeting the locals.Read more