Our wander out to Inisbofin

Well hello there fellow Wanderers!!!

It has certainly been a while since our last blog post but we're still here!

The Easter weekend we decided to take a wander to Galway and do something a little different - we took a trip out to Inishbofin island.

Inisbofin translated to English means Island of the White Cow tied to an old folklore story :)

"The origins of the island’s initial colonization are still obscure. The most common and basic version relates how two fishermen lost in fog, landed on an enchanted island and lit a fire. The flames broke the spell and the mist lifted to reveal an old woman driving a white cow along a shingle beach, which ran between a lake and the sea. She was observed to strike the cow, whereupon it turned to stone. Another tradition has that the old women and the cow emerge from the lake every seven years or alternatively to forewarn of some impending disaster. The lake in question is Loch Bo Finne (Lake of the White Cow) in West Quarter village."

We arrived to Galway on Thursday night and stayed in the Claregalway hotel. We needed to drive almost 2 hours to Cleggan to catch the ferry at 2pm. €20 quid per adult return and both times the ferry left on the dot, so don't be late!!!! 

Short way to the ferry, long way back :)

And off on the ferry we go!!! 

Welcome to Inishbofin! 

We got off the Ferry and kind of realized we actually had no plans once we got here :) lol whoops,

The Island is 5km x 2km, so off on a walk we go.

I love Galway and have visited so many times, but this was my first time ever coming this far west. And My god, I am still blown away by how lucky we are to live in Ireland and what a BEAUTIFUL place it is! 

We were blessed with the most fabulous weather, sunny but chilly and fresh as f*ck :P

        

Quick stop into the Doonmore Hotel to celebrate the first time in 91 years pubs are now allowed to open and serve booze on Good Friday. Open fire, bit of diddly eye music and a sneaky G&T :)

Meadbh our little wanderer that joined us really wanted to be able to see Inishark - her Grandad was one of the last people to live on the Island - you can't get there by Ferry as there is no dock, so we got as close by binoculars, and were able to the ruins of her Grandads home! 

"Now uninhabited, the last 23 inhabitants of this former isolated fishing and farming community were evacuated in October 1960"

Time really flies by, and we were booked on the last ferry home at 5pm

In hindsight the Island looked like it was being set up for a serious Bank Holiday weekend session and we would have loved to have stayed overnight - always next time! 

On drive back we seen a fab view of the coast and decided to take the most AMAZING accidental detour along Sky Road, totally random but ended up being my absolute favourite part of the trip! 

An absolutely incredible view! 

Hunger struck so we said we would make a move back and stop into the first place we found in Clifden! Driving further down sky road........ we spotted it......... 

O.M.G

CASTLE!! Me and Rachel both screamed at the exact same time! 

We NEED, like, immediately to drive to it! 

We had just stumbled across Clifden Castle in all its glory! 

I claim this place as my own! 

Half sprinting half walking we made our way down the walkway to this magnificent ruin - so can you tell how much I frigging love Castles yet?? :) 

Clifden Castle was built by John d'Arcy in a Gothic Revival style in the 18th century, about 1750. The house was only lived in for about 90 years before it was abandoned in the 1840's. 

The house fell into ruin and was stripped bare of anything that could be sold by the locals in order to feed themselves.

It was absolutely fab to be able to take a walk around

**Warning - Castle porn pics coming**

The end of a magical day 

 We stopped into Clifden into EJ Kings finally for some food.

We were starving before we found the castle so there are no food pics unfortunately lol

After leaving the hotel at 11.30am we arrived back to the hotel at 11.30pm, shattered and thirsty for a gin we had a little nightcap or 2, then headed to bed

I had the most amazing weekend with our little Bofin Brigade - if you're considering taking a trip to that part of the world I highly recommend it! And DO NOT leave without taking a loop around Sky Road. You wont regret it!!

Happy Wandering all!

Shel + Rachel and the Bofin Brigade :)