Kinvara Bay

Today was the last day of my little adventure with TJ in County Clare. I had to get a 1pm train from Galway to connect with my early evening flight back from Dublin. TJ had a long drive south back to the Sheepshead. We've been staying at Jackdaw Cottage in Kinvara, an Air B&B run by blipper Seaspirit. This is a new concept to me, people basically inviting you into their own home to stay - and what a beautiful home she has, the cottage right in the heart of the town and close to the water, combining a studio and a gallery where she creates and showcases her exquisite ceramic art.

She looked after us so well. The breakfasts were, without a shadow of a doubt, the very best I've ever enjoyed at a B&B, eaten in the garden in warm morning sunshine, surrounded by beautiful works of art and in the company of two very beautiful people. I've been very much in holiday mood here, lingering in the morning, for once not in any rush to get busy with the day. If you want to come visit this wonderful corner of Ireland then I cannot recommend this place highly enough.

The previous day I had actually enjoyed a bit of a cycle around the Burren, meeting up with TJ at a few places and not meeting up at all at one particularly hard place to find. We were the victims of a combination of having just the one map between us, the complete lack of any signposts on the minor roads, the inability of our phones to talk to each other, and me basically turning my brain off! When you are totally lost and have no contact with your companion the commonsense option is to wait at a pub. That worked. She found me!!

Our late return on Saturday evening, having enjoyed a lot of lingering, me on the bike racing the fading light, meant that we never had much time to explore Kinvara but it has a lovely friendly feel to it. We did find time to take in a great little trad session at a local pub. There was an amazing choice of music. Each of the many bars seemed to have a live act playing. We finally tore ourselves away at well after midnight and the place was still very lively.

I took this shot from the harbour wall first thing the following morning, before we drove the short distance to Galway. Like so many of the places we have visited on this trip, there is such a strong feeling of history and tradition here. This is most definitely a place to which I wish to return soon.