Lough Key Park

It’s only seven in the evening and we are both trying to stay awake after our overnight flight from Boston and little sleep. Tony grabbed a few zeds but after watching Green Book (excellent!) I tried to induce sleep by plugging in to Bridge over Troubled Water and the complete Dylan, with no luck. We landed in Dublin at 08.30 this side of the Atlantic and took the shuttle to the car rental, then the puzzle was to decide which way we left the airport to pick up the ring road and then the M4 towards Sligo. We managed it quite easily but were somewhat concerned about the car full of Asian women who drove out in to the rush hour before us!

A couple hours and stops later we arrived here in Boyle, the base for our search to see where Tony’s Mum was born and lived the early part of her life. The locals are genuinely friendly and we came out of the tourist centre with a fistful of ideas of things to do. We were early to check in to our comfortable BnB so drove to the beautiful Lough Key Park which is home to a wide range of activities and trails. The Big House no longer exists but we took a walk through the extensive servant tunnels, which do, and climbed the viewing tower from which I took this blip. All that engineering and cost so that your view would not be spoiled by your employees walking up from the town!