There is no sleeping in today, we have places to go. After enjoying a lovely breakfast, we packed up and continued our journey south on the Wild Atlantic Way.
We had about a two hour drive before we arrived in Leenane, a village in the county of Galway. Connemara Sheep and Wool Centre is where we stopped to pick up some lunch and of course do some shopping.
It was a fifteen minute drive to Killary Sheep Farm. On the way up to the one thousand acre property, we encountered sheep everywhere. Some of them were very close to the road. We had booked the 1:00pm tour (12 Euros / person) and before it started, we admired the spectacular view of Killary Harbour. The tour started with Tom (the owner) giving us a brief explanation of what was going to happen … sheep dog and sheep shearing demonstrations and then feeding of baby lambs. This was going to be a good day.
First up was the sheep dog demonstration. Tom would be working with Rock, his three year old Border Collie. Before they got started, Tom explained the path he was going to get Rock to move the sheep in the field and what commands he would use.
What I saw in that field was nothing short of amazing. Tom using only his voice was able to get Rock to move those sheep in any direction. What was stunning was even when Rock was far off in the distance, Tom spoke with a normal voice. We kept asking ourselves, how in the heck can Rock hear him. We later learned that dogs have the most incredible hearing. So when you ask your dog to do something and it appears he/she is deaf, they are not. They just choose to ignore you. The sheep made their way all over the field and eventually ended up in a pen. Good job Rock.
Next up was sheep shearing. Tom grabbed one of the sheep and using manual shears, started cutting off the wool. He asked if anyone wanted to give it a try and both Karen and I said yes. Tom held the sheep and guided our hands through the wool.
Tom was great at answering everyone’s questions. Like how often do sheep need to be sheared … answer … once a year. What kind of sheep does he have … answer … blackhead horny sheep. I asked the question is how many sheep he has. He responded by saying that you never ask an Irishman that question. And guess what, he did not answer.
We finished up our tour with bottle feeding little lambs. Tom handed many of us a small bottle filled with milk and then he released the lambs. They all came running out looking for the bottles. They were so cute. And once they were done, we got to hold them. This was my favourite part of the tour.
It was now time to head over to Kylemore Abbey (17 Euros / person), one of Ireland’s leading tourist attractions. It is part of an estate of one thousand acres which also includes a neo-Gothic church and a Victorian walled garden.
We started the self guided tour at The Abbey. It was built in the late 1860’s by Mitchell Henry for his wife Margaret. Unfortunately Margaret dies in 1874 and eventually the estate is sold to the Duke and Duchess of Manchester. Story has it that the Duke loses Kylemore during a late night gambling session in 1914. By 1920, the Irish Benedictine Nuns purchase the property and still own it to this day.
We then walked five minutes to the church. Mitchell Henry built the church as a testament of his love for his late wife. It is going through some restoration but we were still allowed to go inside. Whenever I go into a church, I always light a candle for my dad. This time I did not have any change but I did see a QR code. I scanned it and I was able to make a donation. The nuns have embraced technology.
After just under two hours of driving, we arrived in the town of Athenry which is outside of Galway. The Raheen Woods Hotel is our accommodations for tonight. We headed into the village and had a late dinner at Stone House Pizza.
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