The Wild Atlantic Way - Galway & Clare Part 2

Galway City turned out to be not very campervan friendly so we ended up parking in a pub car park about 8km outside the city centre that allows motorhomes to park in their overflow car park free of charge. With a bus service that stopped outside the pub or a short Uber ride into the city it turned out to be very convenient.

It was heaving in the city centre being a warm sunny Saturday afternoon. We had a wander around the main sites - Eyre Square which had lots of touristy market stalls, the harbour area and Spanish Arch, and the cathedral. After all the lovely quiet places we've been parking up it all felt a bit frantic for us.

Maddie joined us late afternoon. She'd had a good few days in Dublin. We were highly amused that when we asked if the meetings had been successful she replied 'yes - they gave us lots of good tips for where to go out in Dublin'. We were shocked at the cost of accommodation in Galway - even a shared dorm in a hostel was €150. Maddie said it was much worse in Dublin where you paid more then London prices.

We had a good evening catching up with her - drinking, eating tapas and more drinking. Note to self - never think you can keep up with a 20 something year old pro - Colin had to pour me into a taxi to get back to Lolly.

The following morning my head knew about the night before, and was made worse once I discovered I'd dropped my purse - probably getting out of the taxi. Thankfully nothing had been taken on my Revolut card which I could freeze and there would have been very little cash in the purse after paying the taxi fare.

We were all looking forward to visting Inishmore, the largest of the Aran Islands. We took a bus to Rossaveel harbour further down the coast, then it was about an hour on the ferry to the island. The weather was perfect and we'd booked a decent looking hotel on the edge of the main town Kilronan for the night.

After dropping our bags off and sorting out hire bikes we set off to cycle the main tourist route down the island. It was absolutely lovely - rugged coastal areas, a seal colony and a beautiful white beach. We called in at a goats cheese place, and had to persuade Maddie to delay her swim on the beach until after we'd visited the prehistoric fort overlooking the ocean. We're not convinced she was that impressed, but the views from the cliffs were stunning.

Back at the beach Colin and I didn't feel we could decline going in the water which Maddie was straight into. It took Colin a lot longer to get right in and after I'd taken the photos I did get in and swim this time - even if it was for a very short amount of time.

After a quick drink on the way back, we dropped Maddie's bike off and got cleaned up for dinner in the hotel and a drink in another pub in the village. The evening light was lovely.

The weather wasn't half as nice the following morning. Colin went out on his hire bike before breakfast to look at the other side of the island, and Maddie had another swim in the harbour, while I enjoyed a lie in reading my book - luxury.

We had a couple of hours to kill before our return ferry, so Maddie and I both purchased the obligatory genuine Aran jumpers. By the time we walked round to get our return ferry it was very cool and missly - I felt sorry for the arriving tourists who were all wrapped up in waterproofs and setting off on their hire bikes. The weather makes such a difference to the experience you have.

Back in Galway City, Maddie had an onward bus to Dublin airport and Colin and I retrieved Lo11y. Back on the road our first port of call was back in the Burren to see a megalithic tomb called a Poulnabrone Dolmen hat we'd missed on our trip a few days earlier. It had been a wet twisty route to reach it and to be honest it was much smaller than I was expecting (at just 6ft high) sitting on a low mound on top of the limestone pavement.

We headed back to join the WAW coastal route south of the Cliffs of Moher. The sea looked much wilder than we'd seen it and lots of visitors were stopped taking photos of the dramatic waves crashing against the coastal rocks.

We called in at the beach at Doonbeg where the Trump International Golf Resort sits - we decided we didn't fancy parking for the night here so continued on to small fishing harbour which seemed like a good sheltered spot to spend the night. Quite a few cars pulled up which we realised were locals coming with their surfboards - no doubt the word had got round the waves were big that evening.

The weather in the morning was still pretty breezy with short sharp showers, but we still enjoyed the most fabulous cliff scenery with crashing waves leading towards the Loop Head Peninsular route. The Kilkee cliffs looked spectacular in the dark wild weather with several sea stacks. With the wind gusting we didn't get too close to the edge.

The next stop was the Bridges of Ross. A short walk took us to a view of an ocean carved arch. Apparently there used to be three arches, the other two having collapsed into the sea many years ago. There was a hardy group of photographers sitting on the cliff edge in the wind and the rain with cameras poised - we assume waiting for a bird.

At the farthest point on the peninsular sits the Loop Head Lighthouse. It was tipping it down when we reached it so we decided to skip visiting it.

The roads around the coast were covered in seaweed and rocks blown off the beaches. There must have been one heck of a storm the night before that we'd missed in the sheltered harbour.

After this loop we took a short ferry hop across the Shannon Estuary that took us into Co Kerry, but first we took a little diversion into Co Limerick to visit the Foynes Flying Boat and Maritime Museum. The small town of Foynes was once one of the largest civilian airports in Europe during World War 2 and played a pivotal role in establishing commercial transatlantic flights. The museum is located in the original terminal building and the Shannon was chosen as the landing site for the flying boat services that operated in the 1930s. It was a really nicely put together museum, and had a section dedicated to the Irish actress Maureen O'Hara who had been involved in setting up the museum due to one of her husbands (Captain Charles Blair) being the last pilot to fly one of the sea boats. It's a real Oscar I'm holding. There was a replica flying boat on display - we're not sure we'd fancy flying across the Atlantic in something so flimsy. They also claimed Foynes was the birthplace of the Irish coffee in 1943, but with some driving still to do we had to leave that on our 'to do' list.

Next stop - our final section of the WAW on this trip - County Kerry.