Site icon Folksy Travel by Bill Smale

The Men of the West

there is an Irish song made popular during the fight against the genocide imposed by England called “the men of the west“ and popularized by the Clancy Brothers. The other song I remember clearly is “the hills of Connemara“ which is well known by my generation in the area around Galway and to the west. The song is about making moonshine and trying to avoid the tax man. You will enjoy the hospitality of the people here. The weather is a little rough but the beauty of the place is incredible and the landscape is very diverse and some very amazing. And of course you can visit the cottage of Patrick Pearse, one of the great heroes of Ireland who was hanged by England for opposing English oppression.

Achill

They came to say hello
It looks fairly baren in this area. It’s very windy and I expect to difficult to grow very much.
Carrickkildavnet castle
A rescue boat practicing
The local church graveyard

Westport

This was the pub in Westport and I found the music to be heartwarming, taking me back to my childhood.
The young musicians

Buncrana

He was a famous hunger striker who died in opposition to British oppression
Obviously the same owner
A funeral procession
There is one not only in San Francisco
A view of the beach but a little cold to go swimming this time of year though there are a few who do
A memorial bench obviously of someone who people respected for her kind volunteer work
Irish humor
Obviously an agrarian area
I’m not sure if this is just for tourists or if this is something that local people enjoy as well
This is the axe throwing area
The chasin bull pub

Conemara

You have to visit this area of Ireland. It’s just incredible scenery
A small café with delicious lemon pie
A fierce warning
It shows you how to travel along the Atlantic way from Westport down to Galway
If you have kids this is probably one place you would like to go since the children have a lot of things to do at this estate and Castle. Anyway it’s a beautiful place to visit
This is the estate house
It’s beautiful water texture and reflection
Gowlan east road
These beautiful yellow flowers are blooming everywhere

Patrick Pearse

Patrick was enamored with the Irish language, wrote an Irish and established to school to teach in Irish which were sometimes referred to as Irish Gaelic. He was very much opposed to a British control of Ireland and so eventually joined the Irish brotherhood which became the IRA. Below you will see a speech he wrote at the funeral of a great Irish patriot of the late 1800s. The speech launched him on his political career. He helped write the declaration of freedom from Britain and helped to organize the Easter rebellion in 1916. He was one of the few who was hanged by the English government in Dublin for his part in the Easter rebellion, the effects which sparked the Countrywide rebellion against British control of Ireland.

This is Patrick’s cottage which he built in Rosmuck, not far from Galway.
These needles are sharp
This is the cottage where he came as often as he could to be with local people
The things in the cottage were contributed by the family

Aughnanure castle

The short history is that in the 12th century the Normans arrived and pretty much integrated with the local people, mostly Irish speaking. Henry VIII started the “protestant“ Church of England which worshiped him instead of the pope and so he didn’t want the popes people coming in from Ireland and that’s what started the great increase in oppression by Britain.
Ireland was very clan oriented, divided up into all these different Lord ships in the 1500s.
I tried eating with a fork, this Chinese food, but I finally got chopsticks since it was so much easier eating with them.

A discussion

This is Irish moonshine and it seems to be the most famous brand. I had moonshine made in Oklahoma many years ago and this has a very similar taste, like a whiskey without the smoky flavor.

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