The Return to Innisfree - Day 8

Quiet Man Cottage Museum

Cong                                                                              Ireland

Friday 13^th June 2014

Another early rise approached at 6:30am for us as it was time to take my father to his last dialysis session at Castlebar general hospital. I was happy that this would be the last one though as it was starting to get a bit tiring for my father to go through the sessions especially on his holiday. It wasn’t the only last thing to be aware of as this was our last full day in Ireland so we were planning on making the most of it after the hospital run. As there was not much traffic on the 30 km road to Castlebar, we had arrived in good time dropping my father off at the renal dialysis department. My mother and I went to the hospitals café to have yet another mocha coffee whilst reflecting on our last full day of our time here in good old Ireland before setting off home tomorrow. A long time had passed as we finished our coffees and we headed into Castlebar town centre to pick up the last remaining gifts for the family and a few essentials for tomorrows long trip. We both had a greater look around the busy town and came across more unique shops such as a shop which sold Native American items and spiritual ones too. It was truly surprising how we managed to spend 4 hours in the town we previously visited on this journey but I knew there was more to see and do in this remarkable place. Once we finished in the town centre we then picked my father up but there was a very big delay on him getting out due to the fact that he couldn’t stop bleeding when they had taking the needles out of him. With everything cleared for him to leave we set off back to Corrib View Villa. On the way back, my father informed me that I was actually getting admired by some of the nurses which made me laugh a lot. We eventually arrived back at Corrib view villa to drop our gifts and shopping off. I really wanted to relax a lot for the rest of the time as I had a long drive the next day so I thought what better way to relax than to do a bit of fishing at my favourite spot again along the quiet flow of Cong River. So we all headed for the short ride to Cong for the relaxation that waited for us with open arms. As was expected there was nobody in my favourite spot which was brilliant as I set up my fishing rod and bait. Relaxation could start and I felt so much peace watching my float gently flow down the river whilst bobbing up and down now and again with fish taking a bite to my bait. I spent quite a while fishing with still nobody around and I only managed to catch 2 rainbow trout. Once I thought the fish weren’t biting anymore I decided to end the fishing as I wanted to go spend most of my time in the town with my family. I packed the fishing equipment in the car and met up with my parents at the quiet man café to have a cup of tea. I had a final look in the shop next to the café and I caught my eye on a Guinness T-shirt which I put on straight away. I also bought a Guinness hat for my father as in 2 days time it was father’s day. We took our time exploring the whole village with a few tears from my mother knowing it was coming to an end soon. Our last port of call was for an evening dinner together at Danaghers bar which we were looking forward too. It was nice of the bar staff to let us bring our dog in too as we sat at the back end of the bar next to the American pool table. Yet again the bar was nice and quiet as we ordered our food. I ordered a T-bone steak with chips and of course a beautiful pint of Guinness. The food I had was absolutely mouth watering with the plate I had completely empty and to finish the evening off I had a chocolate cake too. I spent some time playing pool with my mother while watching the first match of the world cup on TV and that would probably go down as the only time I could ever multi task. After waddling back to the car with full stomachs from great food, we had one final drive around the small peaceful village of Cong and said our goodbyes but hopefully not the last time though as this day had been another memorable day for us all. Despite it being Friday 13^th of all days, we definitely had the luck of the Irish on our side.

Me Outside Reverend Playfair House