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Tuesday I decided that since the weather was nice (I think I only had two rainy days out of 9) that I would head up the coast toward Clifden. This is a truly wild part of Western Ireland and has a landscape that is made mostly of rocks. In fact, I suspect it is made mostly of heavy rocks as the medium and lightweight ones blew away long ago!

As usual, I headed out of town and then took the first left when something on the map looked interesting. In this case, it was an island that clearly showed a road going out to it over a bridge, but with no visible bridge on the horizon (it was flat as well as rocky). The island turned out to be a large chunk of rock sticking out of the ocean and the “bridge” to the island was, with a couple of exceptions, a pair of stone fences with a road built up a few feet above sea level between them. Since there were lots of rocks lying around and the ocean was only a few feet deep at high tide this seemed to be a workable solution.

Of course, this is Ireland so anything can be made “interesting,” and this is a fine example. Remember my comment above about the “bridges” consisting of two stone fences and a bit of dirt? Well, the stone fences, just like for any other Irish road, where about 3 feet high and VERY solid. They were also build without any thought being given to shoulders or even, for the most part, oncoming traffic. There were also places where the road was twisty and hilly and in these the fences were built higher so you wouldn’t be able to see the giant truck coming down the road toward you. Scary!

There wasn’t really anything very scenic but I did find a few pictures that should be at least a bit interesting.

Wide Road

Here is a fine example of one of the “wider” sections of the road. In this case the telephone poles are outside of the stone wall and there was even room enough to paint a yellow line along the side of the road. Since there is “plenty” of room to pass the walls are low and you can see oncoming traffic.

Any of you who have traveled with me know that I have a knack(?) for finding Tex-Mex restaurants in just about any city. I don’t necessarily eat at them but I can certainly find them. Of course, I found the one in Galway today. The three pictures below tell most of the story, but you can also review their menu here: http://www.cactusjacks.ie/galway/index.php

This is promising…

Spotting a sign offering “Tex-Mex” is always a promising beginning. This one seems to offer a LOT.

Wait – WHAT???

Things got confusing upon closer inspection. Yes, you really DO see the following:Tex-Mex, Irish, European(?), Cajun and Vegetarian! Except for a couple of oddities (Barbarie Duck anyone) it seems to run mostly Tex-Mex-ish. In fact, the sole claim to being “Irish” (other than, well, being in Ireland and all that) is the inclusion of “Guinness Beef Stew,” which I think you can get in just about any restaurant, pub, gas station and church in the country.

Cactus Jack’s Entrance

I’m only including this because of what you can’t see: The front door is right across the street from the Galway branch of The Revenue (aka IRS). You have to wonder if they even bother to cheat on their taxes…

Random shots around the spot where the River Corrib empties into Galway bay.

The Spanish Arch (and The Irish Street Sweeper)

The Spanish Arches are two stone arches that used to be then entrance to a pier where wine was unloaded from Spanish ships. The arches were used to guard the wine storage. Of course, these days they aren’t used for much except storing random house fragments (the arch on the right contains a fireplace mantel and a few other bits and pieces plus some empty beer cans) and to allow the street sweeping trucks to enter the Long Walk. Oh – and they also provide something scenic for drunks to stagger around and lean against.

My Fodor’s guidebook referred to this as “a pile of stones” and it is relatively accurate.

Spanish Arch Neighborhood

The other thing the Spanish Arch does is give its name to a neighborhood around where the River Corrib empties into Galway Bay. For reference, I’m standing on the west side of the river looking east. The building on the left is Jury’s Inn (Bostonians will recognize the name) and the Spanish Arch is just out of the picture to the right.

The Long Walk

This is the street that runs down the east side of the river past the Spanish Arch. It’s lined with houses and parked cars and the occasional drunk/stoner.

The Long Walk

Looking out more toward Galway Bay.

Looking Upriver

Looking back upriver into Galway. You can see Jury’s on the right and the Wolfe Tone bridge crossing the river.

Upriver from the Wolfe Tone Bridge

Fisheries Tower and Museum

On the West side of the Wolfe Tone Bridge there is a three-story tower with a sign that says “Fisheries Tower Museum.” It’s obviously abandoned and the bridge looks sketchy at best.

Fisheries Tower Bridge

This is a slightly closer look at the Fisheries Tower Bridge. Definitely sketchy!

Notice the sign on the door?

Fisheries Tower Sign

Aha! Now we know why the place looks abandoned!

Explanation for the Sign

And here we see the reason for the sign. It’s a bit hard to see, but right under the bridge there should be a vertical pipe connected to the wood beam. It’s about 6 inches lower than it should be and most definitely not connected by anything other than air! It’s also a 1.5 inch galvanized pipe that ends on a rock in salty water – not exactly what I would call a good long-term strategy for a bridge support.

The Wind in the Willows Picture

If you’ve read The Wind in the Willows this picture will make sense. If not then you probably should.

Comments

• May-24-2008 16:49:39 by Nutcase:
  Superb! I, fortunately, got to read an excellent illustrated version! Danke!

I know that some of you like to see what the towns I’m wandering around in look like, so I’ve included a few street scenes.

Sally Long’s

I ran across this interesting mural late this morning.

Street Level

The street level part isn’t anything special (except for the URL, of course – very Medieval don’t you think).

I believe the sign also means that you are NOT supposed to drive up the pole or the side of the building. Given what I’ve seen of Irish drivers, this sort of sign might really be required – and will probably be ignored.

Second Level

The second level gets a bit more interesting – see who you can identify.

And the Piece-de-Resistance!

And here is the whole reason why I spent some time on this! The details are great – God is apparently quite buff and Elvis is skinny – gotta love it.

John, does this remind you at all of a certain tailgate on a certain lime-green pickup spotted on the way to Austin years ago? At least this one doesn’t require labels for the characters.

Check out their web site for an even better(?) mural: http://www.sallylongs.ie/.

Random Street Scene

The rest of the pictures are just random street scenes.

Random Street Scene

Random Street Scene

Random Street Scene

Random Street Scene

Comments

• May-24-2008 16:27:04 by Nutcase:
  Reminds me of Krakowska street in Tarnowskie Gory!
• May-29-2008 12:12:30 by Jim:
  It does, doesn’t it. Shouldn’t be surprising as Galway is probably about the same age as Tarnowskie-Gory (and only about twice the size).

I continued on up the coast road from the Cliffs of Moher and generally enjoyed the scenery and general lack of traffic. I also discovered that there pretty much isn’t anywhere to buy coffee (or anything else) at 7:30 on a Monday morning!

Anyway, about 30-45 minutes from the Cliffs of Moher I ran across an interesting-looking beach. Irish beaches are always worth checking out since they can have some truly spectacular views and scenery. This one (Fanore Dunes, I think) was no exception: The beach was smallish but well worth the stop.

Looking South

This is a view of the beach looking south.

Looking North

And another view looking north. Bored yet?

Cool Wave Pattern

I have no idea how I got this photo, but I’m pretty sure from looking at it that the lines of light and dark in the water are the shadows caused by the shallow waves. Definitely wallpaper-worthy!

Cool Rock Pattern

Here is an example of why it is a good idea to take a look at an Irish beach – interesting rock patterns.

Aloha Surf School

On my way out I noticed a sign that caught my eye. I know that surfing on the west coast of Ireland is supposed to be good but you’d think they would come up with a slightly more “local” name. I have no idea if the web site works or not (currently on my flight home) but give it a try: www.surfschool.tv.

Surf School “Building”

And here is a shot of the “building” the surf school is in. You have to wonder if they bought the shipping container or if it just washed up on the beach!