Day 6 Clifden to Westport (59 miles, 947m)

Today was wet! Stunning countryside nevertheless with the best of Connemara and County Mayo.  
Out of our room we could see the show ground of the Clifden Connemara Pony Show. It was raining!
 As Billy Connelly said, "There's no such thing as bad weather, just wrong clothing".
Avoca is also a large store in Dublin, the top floor offering fabulous cake and coffee.
We cycled up into Ireland’s Lake District by beginning the day going the long way round along the “Sky Road”...
...with all it’s nooks and crannies with intermittent views out to sea. 
A torrent of gushing water, made heavier by the rainfall.
The roads were mostly empty. Most were safely ensconced, warm and dry. Not us!
Scenery stunning - an eerie light, mountains appearing and disappearing in the mist.
New plants in this region, more brambles, wild rose, reeds as well as the orange-flowered crocosmia.
Evanescent mountain outlines and misty islands, reminiscent of Whistler.


 Gorgeous shorelines, deserted beaches.

 Inland to the lakes.
 A tailwind for most of our journey.
 Started to see Rhododendron and what looked like Gunnera or 'Giant rhubarb'.
 All was windswept.
 Time for a tasty chocolate bar!


From our lunch stop at Leenane Hotel (weblink shows it in sunshine!), we circumnavigated Killary Harbour, a natural fjord demarcating Galway and Mayo counties.

 The calm waters of the harbour make it an ideal place for mussel rafts and fish cage
We climb steadily into the interior.
Misty mountain
Photography on the move, camera in and out of a dry bag depending on the dampness.



The hotel staff told us the lakes were very low following weeks of drought. Ironically, they were still under a hosepipe ban.


Westport our destination.
One handed photography at speed...
Crazy cyclist!
Arriving in Westport, we were reunited with the ocean.
Our watches were re-set...
...bag to a time beyond time. No Netflix, just chatting with friends, others we'd met along the way...


...and listening to some very fine music (click on link for a taste!).

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