Ireland ~ Sheepdogs & Shepard, Kylemore Abbey, Drive To Clifden (Day 13) 03Aug23

It's a stout drive on the Atlantic Coast of Ireland to Clifden. We first stopped to visit a sheep farm for a keen demo of Prince the sheepdog and sheep shearing. We arrived @ Killary sheep farm in a drizzle of course but the shepherd, his dog, and the sheep don't mind. He inherited a gorgeous piece of land on the ocean & bay, on which he covers taxation by operating the families sheep farm. The sheep industry is less profitable recently so he's diversified into dog training (now abandoned) and tourism. Sheep farms here are first operated for meat ~ only the young boy lambs are eaten really; the ladies are kept for breeding a few males of the right age are kept to sire. The wool is either tossed or sometimes used for insulation but it barely covers the cost of shearing. He also explained that on his property he's been regulated to only raise 200 sheep, down from 300 a couple of years ago... he was not impressed with government regulation. He was an awesome presenter and his dog Prince, one of 6 I think, was spectacular. Over looking ~10 acres of property and ~30 sheep for the demo, he let Prince go for the corralling of the herd. Shouting commands to Price 1/2 mile away (he knows 6 commands: lay down, left, right, ahead, and others), they had all the sheep in the corral, over challenging walls and gates, in 7 minutes... it was very cool.

Once the sheep were corralled we were shown sheep shearing... and Kala was a participant! She did her shearing for us and the "naked" lady was patient and thankful for it to be done. It'd been her 1st shearing, around her 18th month. Again, very cool.

We left the farm again stoked at the "extras" negotiated by OAT, 'cause they were awesome and something we'd never been able to find or negotiate to excellence as independents. We continued on our journey on the Atlantic Ocean to Kylemore, but encouraged a stop to learn of current peat bog practices. Yet, we passed awesome coastline and bays.

Peat is still a standard fuel for Irish folk, especially in the backcountry. Ireland still allows its taking for commerce or personal heating. A bog is an amazing biosystem often a meter or more of living organic material on top of much harder sub-structures. John was our leader in a field replete with bog and bog-"mining." The first news and 1st step in taking bog for heat is to "drain the bog" where-under a backhoe or similar makes a channel or road in the bog to drain it for 1000 sqft or so at least. This completely kills 100s of years of vegetative growth which built the bog. Ireland has a minuscule portion of the world's land mass - but 5% of its bog-land. Is that land to spare or to conserve? ~ Dunno but if it is conservation then let's please compensate the land-owners for non-development... Ireland's bogs are a lot like SAmerica's rainforests or Africa's savannas... the west can't destroy and profit with impunity for a millennia and then demand pristine playgrounds ~ pay back. Anyway... step two is to harvest the drained bogs manually with shovels, into piles for drying; then, as shown prior, pack onto trucks for distribution.

Wondrous and sad and useful, all at once. Back on the bus we set out for Kylemore Abbey... with gorgeous grounds, a spectacular castle, and abbey, and even Notre Dame's Irish extension campus. The grounds are spectacular - with massive (often imported) trees like Pacific redwoods and more from the US-NW. We headed 1st to the Victorian walled garden.

We scrambled back from the walled garden to the abbey and its chapel overlooking the lough. Yeah... chilly and rainy and sunny. This is also where Notre Dame has an extension in Ireland ~ we even saw some summer kids checking out the vibe. There was a boring and incomprehensible presenter who told us of multiple really old families that owned the spot. We toured the barely operating abbey as the order working it has seriously dwindled. Looks like there once was a keen catch from the lough. There are 4 kinds of marble on the island - black, green, red , and grey ~ they're all represented in Kylemore Chapel. We hit the cafe and departed... ~1800s I think; heavily restored ~ very nice property ~ was it worth flipping the last ownership to the state?

On the bus again... headed to Clifden. We caught a glimpse of Clifden Castle and the bay on the way down. And then we popped up a sketch road, to a very windy point, and limited return with the herd on the road!

We dined decent near the hotel... still in Gallway Co, ~ Station. Our fam & friends heard Liam Hallerin (Kala, could be Holleran?) for a toast among friends. Nice but Kevin & Jim seemed 'meh' on the notion. NP.