Day 15: Unexpected Pleasures

This morning my plan had been to go to Sligo and see all of the William Butler Yeats memorial sites. However, as I was having breakfast this morning I got a text from another new found cousin, Ger Mcgreal. His actually another Gerard. He's a local here in Castlebar and wanted to take me for a walk out by the windy gap. He pick me up at 11 .

Unfortunately when we go out there it started to rain. Not just rain but pour. We did start to go out walk but the road was muddy and very wet and it really would have been a very difficult walk. Instead he drove me all around the area on these unpaved roads period the land is so wild and unkempt period it's just so beautiful to be able to spend some time out in the land . We were surrounded by mountains and in this beautiful valley period I only wish it hadn't been raining.

Ger and I got an opportunity to have a long conversation. Politically we had much in common period he was a mechanical engineer but after a while his job changed and it was hard for him to find another job so he's now working putting together exercise equipment . He says he really likes it.  Ger drop me off at the guest house at about 12:30 and I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I walked around Castlebar some more taking some pictures and still imagining how hard life must have been for my grandfather in his family. Two small houses that they lived in with such big families had to have been difficult period it's no wonder that nobody stayed very long because the older ones were just spend their time taking care of the younger ones. I'm sure they couldn't wait to go to America as there really was no opportunity there . Interestingly enough I did check the population of Castlebar and it's almost 15000 and the population of Cahersiveen is just under 1500 . That's certainly tells you a lot about the two different places. Castlebar today has so much more going for it.

Mayo and Roscommon were playing a rematch of the football game that I had gone to see last Sunday. For some reason I  decided I really wanted to see the game. So I went to a pub and watched the game and had a burger. I really do like the Irish football. It's very fast moving and the games are not drawn out. I will say they are a little on the violent side. Concussions must be rampant. Mayo beat Roscommon very handily . It was a great game.
It was going to be late afternoon and I wasn't sure what I was going to do. As the skies was dying to clear I decided that I would like to go see a sunset period I decided to go out to Achill Island to see the sunset out there. It was about an hour's drive but it was absolutely a spectacular view period I left really before it got completely dark as the roads were pretty treacherous and I decided I didn't want to drive on them at night. It was truly worth the ride.
Tomorrow I will try again for Sligo.

Me and Ger McGreal