Blakes Hill

A fun packed long day today culminating with a moonlit walk back along the prom from the show to our campsite.
Rain again in the night which continued when we got up for breakfast but by the time we were heading for the bus stop at the site entrance it had stopped, even though it still looked threatening. Got to the bus stop a bit early, as usual, but so had two others. It was a bit of a scenic route but for two of us kids sat at the front on the top deck it was fine and even had a display so we knew when to get off. Boy was the town busy, lots of French and Americans, plus groups of youngsters (uni students?) wandering round. The coffee places all looked crowded but then we spotted a little place down a back alley, virtually deserted but serving Lavatt coffee. Nice young couple running the place and coffee and cake excellent. We did wonder if they were a bit off the track to make it pay. Needn’t have worried, by the time we left it was humming too, pity the toilet blocked though!
Back out onto the street to start the Voicemap walking tour app, which we seemed to start at the end and we followed it backwards, but that worked ok if you cancelled the occasional warning that “you seem to be lost” alert and followed the onscreen map. Lots of interesting stuff about the history of Galway and the 14 original families or tribes that used to run the place but then decided to head west to the Caribbean or America before they were persecuted too much by the English.
A quick bite of lunch in a shopping precinct, that’s also where the public loos were, before heading out to the lake dock upstream of the weir where we were catching the boat. It was out of the centre in a bit of a ramshackled area so we hadn’t expected to find a nice b&b with cafe. Pity, it would have been more “twee” than the precinct.
Onto the boat for a 1 1/2 hour trip up the Corrib river (Ireland’s shortest) and into Lough Corrib with points of interest and ruins being pointed out by the captain. With all points of interest covered we turned at the halfway point to quietly retrace our route back to Galway and take in the scenery. The crew put on an Irish coffee making and Irish dancing demo to break up the journey.
Back on dry land it was off to the “oldest traditional pub in Galway”, Finnigan’s, for a meal, Irish stew of course and a glass of cider for Gill and a pint of Guinness for Tony. The food, and drinks, were excellent and not expensive, then back to the site on the bus for a “chill” before the show.
The traffic in Galway centre is an absolute nightmare and the bus was 25 mins late getting to our stop but we got back in plenty of time.
After a “nice cup of tea” we were taking the 25 minute walk back along the prom to the theatre.
The show was traditional Irish music and dancing, very entertaining. Walking back along the prom a naked lad came running towards us, turns out he’d been skinny dipping (must be crackers in these temperatures or fueled up on alcohol) and his mates had run off with his clothes and he was chasing after them!Read more