We spent the morning walking around Galway and enjoying an Irish coffee made by the 2nd place winner in Ireland's Irish coffee contest. It wasn't too shabby. They had these funky bent spoons that hung on the edge of the glasses and they were engraved with the restaurants name. We knew these were probably stolen on a regular basis, but we refrained from doing so ourselves. Instead, we asked the server if they sold them. She said, "No, but hold on". She ran inside and brought out 2 clean spoons for us to have. So nice.
We tipped her well, of course, and then continued to walk around Galway dropping coins in the cases of busking musicians. By early afternoon we were toasty warm and getting sunburned. Yes, we were sunburned in Ireland, didn't see that one coming. So we chose lunch at an Italian joint on Quay street with a shade covering. The food was absolutely delish.
During this entire morning, we were anxiously awaiting the time we could leave and head towards our next stay, Pete's castle a.k.a. Caherkinmonwee (castle by the yellow bog).
At 3:00 we quickly trod through the cobbled streets to our car. Sean, our GPS, easily directed us to Craughwell. From there we followed Pete's written instructions. It's a good thing we had them too because Sean wouldn't have been good enough to get us there.
As we neared the castle, we could see its Jolly Roger fluttering above the ramparts. With smiles, we turned into the lane and wound our way to its base. Two handsome guys, Rian and Leon, and who turned out to be Pete's sons, quickly greeted us and insisted they help us with our bags. Now, we could have done it, but I have to say that it was VERY nice of them to do it. And I'm sure they were glad we packed light. It's 65 steps to the bedroom in the tower. But that's jumping ahead.
After we met Rian and Leon another gentleman came around the corner. It was Pete. He had been working on the car, most likely lying in the dirt, because he was dusting himself off as he rounded the corner. Pete warmly welcomed us and we knew right away we'd love it here. This family was incredibly down to earth, approachable, and clearly hard working. Our type of people. :)
I was eager to see the castle and Pete was eager to show us around and fill us in on what he'd been doing for the past 20 years. As he began with the tale, Rian and Leon quickly made their way up the winding staircase with our bags and just as quickly returned with plenty of energy. I still have no idea how they made their way up and back so quickly.
The main item on the bottom floor was the pool table, with both sets of pool balls: regular pool balls (solids and stripes) and Irish pool balls (reds and yellows).
The next door up (about 12 steps, give or take) was a bedroom that Pete was in the middle of white washing that day to have ready two days hence for a friend. He had just applied one coat and was waiting g to do another later in the evening.
The next door we came to led to Rian and Leon rooms. We didn't intrude there, but we can all guess what the bedroom would look like (they're 17 and 18).
Next floor was our living room, kitchen and bathroom. It was quite roomy with a large couch, fish tank, hammock, desk, table and chairs. The kitchen was well appointed with stove,fridge,sink, and full cupboards. The amount of food they provided for us was astounding. The bathroom was the quirkiest. Remember this was built in the 1400's. Not much indoor plumbing during those times. Pete had installed a sink and toilet which looked a bit like a king's throne. The flooring had fun tile work. Definitely a creative family. The best and quirkiest was the bathtub, which was under a secret trap door in the living room floor. Fantastic.
There were a lot of pictures of the castle when he first acquired her and more pictures along the way. Pete did this work essentially by himself with the help of a bucket to bring stone up from the ground and his car to work the pull system. I seriously can't imagine it....well, after spending a couple of days there I can. Pete is incredibly industrious and always working or moving.
The next floor up was our bedroom. It had a large fireplace on the far wall. The 4 poster bed, made from trees that Peter had planted and grown, was sparkling wuth little white lights. A seating area took center stage between the two. Above the bed was a loft with another bed, which was accessed by ladder type stairs. Eric and I spent some time up there before falling asleep, just looking at the stone work and wood work that had been done. And pinching ourselves... this is a 15th century castle and we were staying in it! The warm glow of the fire log danced across the beamed ceiling.
About 7 more steps up the staircase and we were able to reach the rampart for an amazing view.
After we settled in, we wandered outside for a stroll through the back garden area. We followed that with a little archery( I'm pretty hopeless at it since I can't close my left eye to sight properly). Rian and Pete were quite good and Rian won the contest by hitting the coke can first.
Ava, Pete's partner, came out to say hello and chat for a bit. She has a love of reading and also writing. She is French and basically learned conversational English over the past 8 years after meeting Pete. She was generous enough to share some of her writing with me when she heard that I write a little. Ava was just lovely, a good soul.
Side note, or not really a side note, but a major note. Rian carves stone. He told me he's done it as long as he can remember. And he's good, really good. We purchased 2 pieces and look forward to seeing what his future holds. While we were shooting the bow/arrow, Pete saw a bit of my tattoo and asked to see more. They were surprised because someone had commissioned Rian to carve practically the exact same image. He showed a picture of it to me and it was very similar. For those of you who don't know, my tattoo is the artwork I commissioned for a book that I authored.
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| Rian at work |
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After archery, walking and chatting we then went into Leon's domain, the pool room. Where he succinctly won each game played. He's quite good.
It was about 10PM by this time and we all decided to turn in for the night. The guys had to study for exams, Pete put on another coat of whitewash, and Eric went to play a guitar that Pete had provided while I read Ava's work. Playing guitar in a castle is just cool. It sounds really good and those moments are engrained in my memory.
