What’s the craic?: Corrib Cruise

Today we hit the road into Connemara country. We first stopped at Aughanure Castle which is one of well over 200 tower houses in County Galway built by large, wealthy, land owning families, mainly of Gaelic but some of Old English (Anglo-Norman) stock. Tower Houses are fortified residences and were places of power and control over the surrounding lands.

The name Aughnanure comes from the Gaelic Achadh na nIubhar - the field of yews, of which one old specimen remains nearby. Situated on the banks of the Drimneed River, which flows into the wester side of Lough Corrib, 3km from Oughterard, the site was well chosen, as the river flows gently beneath the low cliff on which the castle was built, allowing boats bringing supplies to come righ tup to the gate of the fortification.

We ran into Dave Captain of the Corrib Queen in the Castle carpark an decided his boat trip sounded great and decided we would do the cruise. The trip is on Lough Corrine and stops at Inchagoill Island and Ashford Castle.

Forts stop Inchagoill Island we took a walk around the Island taking in the sites of St Patricks 5th Century Church, 12th Century Romanesque Church, Grave stone of St Patrick's nephew and the deserted Village of Inchagoill.

Back aboard we then set sail to Ashford Castle built in 1228 and owned by the Guinness family the estate is magnificent. Now fully restored it is now a luxury Hotel for the rich and famous.

We walked into the town Cong from the castle along the river. A geougeous village on the north eastern shore of Lough Corrib it is most famous as the setting for the film 'The Quiet Man', which starred John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara.

Among the many places to visit here are the 12th century Cong Abbey. There are lots of old fashion pubs and cafes to visit.

We walked back to the castle through the Cong Woods and once back in the castle estate we walked to the stables and check out the other things you can do like clay shooting, ab sailing and zip lining.