The Connemara Loop is part of the Wild Atlantic Way, the longest coast drive in the world.
It's a beautiful part of the world. We drove from Galway to Clifden, did the Sky road (upper) stopped in at Kylemore Abbey then continued on to Westport and back to Galway.
Kelly has a penchant for road trip photos, including selfies. Most of the photos were taken by her today out the window, she was having a ball.
The weather was very kind to us, the temperature topped 14 degrees, the sun came out often and it only rained once or twice!
We set off not knowing what to expect, I had read that you could not say you had been to Connemara unless you had touched the hand of the Connemara giant. Surprisingly, we found him although were a bit disappointed to note he was not as old as Kelly having only been put here in 1999! Perhaps he was moved from elsewhere.
Coming back to Clifden we found a seaweed spa resort where you bathe in seaweed for its rejuvenating properties, Kelly and I feel it's not something for us.
The Benedictine nuns still operate the school so there are places you can't go in the building, they do however make and sell their own very tasty chocolate!
Once home e got changed and went for a walk to find some dinner, we were quite hungry not having eaten since breakfast, it ended up being a mini pub crawl before we finally settled on an Indian restaurant where we ordered and ate too much food and wine before walking home and falling into bed. I only woke up once and made it through to 6am, hoping this is a trend! Off to the Cliffs of Moher today, stay tuned.
Moving on from here we continued a very scenic drive through constantly changing scenery, it is quite extraordinary the way the scenery changes from forests to barren mountains similar to those in the Scottish highlands, to coastal waters that are treacherous to calm lakes in the blink of an eye.
We found ourselves in Clifden and from there stumbled upon the sky road, in a hasty decision, no plan or forethought we took the upper sky road! We were so glad we did, the coastal scenery was nothing short of spectacular , and the photos do not do it justice. The sky road is like a little loop of its own within the Connemara loop.
We continued on our way, next stop Kylemore Abbey! We knew nothing of this place until we found it.
A man named Mitchell Henry built this place for his wife Margaret and their 9 children. It employed many of the locals at a time when the economy was bad in the mid 1800s. He included a gothic cathedral in minature as they were so distant from the town of Clifden. They entertained regularly with food storage for up to 1500 people at any one time, I don't think all at once though, there is an extensive walled garden. Originally there were spa/steam rooms. It is a very impressive place. Alas on a trip to Egypt, Mitchell's beloved Margaret contracted dysentery and died 16 days later in Cairo. So bereaved was he, he could not leave here in Egypt in the ground so he bought her home and built a mausoleum on the property, behind the cathedral. She was only 48 and he lived another 40 years, before joining her there.
The place was sold to a duchess who did some renovations hoping to get royalty to stay, they didn't although there are huge portraits of James II around.
It was sold again to some Benedictine nuns, hence it becoming an abbey. They turned it into a boarding school that still operates today. It took children from wealthy families including princesses from India, who reportedly were allowed to wear their national dress rather than the uniforms. Apparently a different sari for each day of the year. They also took in local girls who's status was greatly improved by attending this much sought out place of education.
We moved on to Westport on the final leg of our mini tour, the weather was turning quite drizzly, and there were many roadworks that slowed us down, it was getting quite dark when we reached home at 4pm! 
Westport.
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