A BUSY DAY

We started the day with a bit of uncertainty, mainly because of the weather. This was the day for climbing Croagh Patrick, which is located just a few miles west of the town of Westport in northern County Mayo, which, by the way, was the home of my Prendergast ancestors. The forecast was for clearing skies, but as we pulled into the the parking area, the cloud level was only about 400 or 500 feet above the ground - the mountain was totally socked in (see Jeanette's photo of St Patrick, which is just a few yards up from the trailhead). Some locals discouraged us from climbing in those conditions, so decided instead to do a 4 km loop hike that started up a little past the St Paddy statue, then drive on down to Kylemore Abbey for the remainder of the day.
As we got to the trailhead for the loop hike, it seemed like the cloud ceiling was lifting a bit so we decided to see just how far up the mountain we could go. It was a steep and rocky trail, but we made it up about 2/3 of the way - about 2000 feet up - before deciding to call it a day. The trail at that point became decidedly steeper, at least a 45 degree slope straight up over loose scree, and the top was still in the clouds. Of course by the time we got back down to the car, the clouds had broken and the summit was clear...oh well.
The drive down to Kylemore Abbey took us through a remote glacial valley with virtually no other cars, and free-range sheep wandering all about. We crossed a small rise overlooking a beautiful lake, and were suddenly confronted with a gaggle of cars, truck, and vans parked on the side of the road, with a small throng of people dressed in brightly colored bicycle garb. They waved us down and told us to pull off the road - the Irish equivalent of the Tour d'France was coming our way and due in about ten minutes or so. We spent the next half hour or 45 minutes watching some of the world's best professional bike racers whiz by in several large  and small waves. Finally, the sweep van came along, clearing the way for us to proceed down the once-again quiet country road.
We reached Kylemore Abbey, a castle-like, 19th century country estate with a large formal garden. After wandering around this Irish Downton Abbey setting, it was time to return to Westport to keep a dinner engagement with a couple from Bozeman, Montana who were staying at our B&B,