April 14, 2014 Northwest Coast of Ireland and Lunch at Mitchell’s in Clifden

April 14, 2014 Northwest Coast of Ireland and Lunch at Mitchell’s in Clifden

This morning we woke up a bit late at ate French toast and ham for breakfast at the St. Anthony B and B at 8:45 and left about 9:30 for our drive south and back to Dublin along the coast.

We were delayed due to an engaging conversation with Roger, the owner of a wool duvet cover company in England, who was kind enough to give me a book on British history going back 500,000 years to the earliest habitation by Homo Heidelburgensus folk.  In about an hour I read about 490,000 years of history in 35 pages this afternoon and evening.

We drove south and west from Westport out to the coast and then through a series of loughs or lakes created by receding glaciers in the last Ice Age about 11,000 years ago.

We drove along a road walked by folks seeking food during the Irish potato famine in 18949 and saw several monuments set up to commemorate their deaths by the unreasoning British overlords who made them walk along miles of Killough Lough to Delphia Lodge to get food.  Many died on the way on a cold winter day.  Apparently it was one of the worst events during the potato famine.

Killough Lough (lake)

Willy skipping stones

Kylecore Castle

The scenery was breathtaking.  Valley after valley filled with upland lakes carved by glaciation.

We made our way around a curve and came upon Kylecore Abbey, one of the modern wonders of Ireland.  It is a large house built on 15,000 acres by a wealthy Englishman.  It also has the largest walled Victorian garden in Ireland.  We enjoyed seeing it and the Abbey.  Some of the tulips and fusias and daffodils are blooming and the camellias and rhododendrons were just starting to bloom.  A very lovely garden and very formal.

We finally arrived in Clifden around 1:30 and drove the Upper Skye road out to the coast and from a look out saw miles the western coast of Ireland with its many islands and inlets.  As we drove back to town we saw oyster cages set in the inlet and decided to look for a seafood restaurant that might have oysters.  When we arrived in town we parked and aI asked a local lady where she would recommend we eat and she said Mitchell’s.  Luckily it was one block ahead of us.  We sat down and ordered a seafood platter for 23.50 Euros and Willy ordered Fish and chips when he heard that the fish was hake.  Our Seafood Platter contained 2 fresh oysters in their half shell, a piece of poached salmon, a three or four slices of smoked salmon, a bowl of about two dozen steamed mussels in butter sauce, some salad and a pile of fresh white meat crab.  Everything seemed exceedingly fresh and was delicious.  It was served with what is called a Rose Marie sauce, which seems to be a tartar sauce with ketchup.  We loved the oysters and crab and the salmon was really great also.

 

Willy’s hake was delicious also.  Very tender and flaky and moist served with tartar sauce.

After lunch we drove about four hours directly to Dublin by way of Galway and arrived at around 7:00 p.m.  The rural roads in Ireland are windy and bumpy and it takes longer to drive them than in the U.S.  Only the large M designated roads are limited access four lane highways.  The reason we continued down the west coast of Ireland to Galway was to pick up the M-6 from Galway to Dublin.

We were given a better room this time at Ashling Hotel with a balcony on the 6^th floor, but there is some vibrating sound in the hotel that is quite disturbing.  We decided to forgo dinner.

Bon Appétit