The Return to Innisfree - Day 6

Westport

Cong                                                                              Ireland

Wednesday 11^th June 2014

Another very early rise in the morning approached for us as we made another trip to Castlebar general hospital for my father’s second stage of dialysis. We set off straight away along the 30 km’s of quiet roads until we arrived just before 8:00am. We took my father into the renal ward and dropped him off with all the nurses and then my mother, the dog and I left for our day trip. We were taking a drive west to a town called Westport which was a short 18 km drive away. So it didn’t take long to get on the outskirts of Westport. As we were closing in on the town, the first landmark we came across was the beautiful Croagh Patrick in the distance rising high above the Irish land as it was the highest mountain in Ireland. My mother loved the sight of it too with the feeling of passion to climb to the top of it. We eventually arrived in Westport and yet again, memories of the place came flushing back to us. It was quite a big town with plenty of shops to have a look in so once we had found the car park hidden within the central area; we set out to walk down memory lane. There were a few areas of the town that were familiar to us and some that weren’t but at the time we had arrived, it was still a bit too early for the shops to be open. So we headed to the nearest café that was open as we never had any breakfast due to the early departure and ordered a mini grill breakfast. Once we were having our food, we sat outside watching the world going by as more shops were beginning to open for business. A long time had passed as we finished our food and making our way along the town until we came across the Carrowbeg River at the bottom of the town. The river and the bridges were quite beautiful even with the grey weather hovering over Westport. Westport was full of unique shops and we entered into most of them to admire what they were selling. The funny thing was that all these unique shops were selling the same merchandise mainly comical Irish leprechaun figures and Guinness related items all shapes and sizes. We spent a good four hours in Westport buying more gifts but it was time to leave making the short journey back to Castlebar picking my father up from hospital. We were all back in the car together making our way back to Corrib view villa with a lot of stories to tell about our day which was good to pass the time as there was a lot more tractors to contend with on the roads. We were all happy to be back to grab something good to eat even after the mini grill. We then headed into Cong again to do a lot of fishing which I was eager to do. Once we were in Cong, it was quite busy with tourists but the one place they weren’t at was my favourite fishing spot which was the river in front of Reverend Playfair’s house. This spot was full with small rainbow trout and Perch ready to grab onto my hook. I set up my fishing rod and worm and was raring to go. However, as soon as I started fishing I ran into big problems. The line got tangled which I spent a long time trying to fix afterwards. Then when I thought I had fixed the problem, I flung my line into the water again and I lost my float and hook in the process. With my frustration building up, I had to drive out of Cong to a fishing tackle shop and buy a new float which was really annoying trying to attach onto my line. Eventually, after getting angry and placing the new float on the line thanks to another fisherman, it was time to fish again. Despite this setback I managed to have a peaceful time regaining my joy as I caught 5 little rainbow trout and also 2 larger trout which impressed a couple of American tourists as they were passing by so I was happy about that. The fish must have known I was there as they weren’t biting so I decided to leave returning back to Corrib view villa for tea. My mother and I decided to head back into Cong to have a bit of a walk and talk enjoying the shear silence of the village. It was a shame my father didn’t want to come with us but we understood why he couldn’t. My mother and I were heading towards Monks fishing house and stood over a tiny bridge over a small section of Cong River. This area had a strong memory for us as this area was where people would throw money into the water for luck. I decided to grab my loose change making a good wish for myself and then threw it into the river. The last place we ended the day by was going to a bar known as Danagher’s bar right next to Pat Cohan’s bar for a pint of Guinness for me and a Baileys for my mother. As soon as we walked into the building, nothing had changed about the look or the layout and it was great to see this. It was also nice to be a part of the quaintness at the bar as everyone was in there to relax and have a nice quiet drink listening to the sound of good Irish music playing in the background. We sat for a moment drinking and with a small inkling of tears in our eyes, we were truly happy being amongst all the familiarities of this great village again thinking of all the good times we shared together in this special place.

Little Rainbow Trout

Rainbow Trout