My four Irish novels are all set in the beautiful area of Connemara in the west of Ireland.
On my first ever
visit to Connemara about ten years ago, I was fortunate that it was a beautiful
autumn day, and I fell in love with the wild open countryside, the dozens of
small lakes (known as loughs and pronounced like the ‘lochs’ in Scotland), and the Twelve Bens, a
range of steep-sided bare mountains.
Connemara is an area of about 12 square miles in the
western part of County Galway, bordered on the east by Lough Corrib, on the north by Killary Harbour, on the south by
Galway Bay, and on the west by the Atlantic.
Although I’ve been
to many other areas of Ireland in the past ten years, Connemara was the place
that captured my heart, and I’ve visited it several times. Most times I’ve been
very lucky with the weather, but even under low cloud, Connemara is still beautiful.
The Twelve Bens (Na Beanna Beola in Irish) is a mountain
range of sharp-peaked mountains. The highest one is only 2,392 feet, but they can be seen from many parts of the area
and provide a dramatic backdrop to small fishing villages like Roundstone in
the south of Connemara.
On my first visit
(and on subsequent visits, too), we went along Sky Road, near Clifden. This is
a scenic drive along (and up!) a narrow peninsula which skirts Clifden Bay and rises
to a viewpoint overlooking several small islands and beyond them the wide expanse
of the Atlantic stretching into the distance. I’ve used the views from Sky Road
several times in my novels because I love it and my (imaginary) Mist Na Mara
house overlooks Clifden Bay.
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South of Clifden is an
area known as the Gaeltacht, which
means a primarily Irish-speaking area. It is estimated that over two-thirds of
Connemara’s 32,000 population are Irish speakers, mainly in the southern part
of Connemara. This area has hundreds of small lakes, peat bogs, and also some beautiful
bays, large and small.
I’ve only given you
a small taste here of this stunning area, but you can find out more at http://www.connemara.net/welcome-to-connemara/
I think I'm going to have to go and take you along as my guide. It is so obvious how much you love Connemara. It comes through in your 'Irish' books also.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Carol. Have already done the 'guided' tour twice, once with two Canadian friends, and once with another friend, so I've had plenty of practice!
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