Westport to Claregalway - Ireland 2016

After our very noisy experience in Westport a couple of years ago, I wanted to avoid staying right in town, so I picked a hotel well out of town. The views were lovely and it was definitely more peaceful than being in the city, but sadly my room was right over the refrigeration units for the restaurant, so my sleep was not as uninterrupted as I'd hoped.

My goal for the next day was Athenry hoping to return to The Barracks, arestaurant we had enjoyed on a few occasions. But every room there was booked. So I finally decided to try Airbnb and found a nice place in Claregalway. 

I cobbled together a ride using routes from a few rides we did in 2014. The route would take me over a few hills and set me up for lunch at Ashford Castle in Cong. Then it was onto Ross Abbey before hitting the village of Claregalway. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a lovely tearoom just outside the gates of Ashford Castle with a clear view of the castle. This was a great find, and much nicer than all the Quiet Man hype in Cong village.

Next stop was the Ross Abbey, where I had a great time wandering around taking loads of photos. 

 

 

 

 

 

My first experience with Airbnb proved very nice. I definitely should have looked into this before. I had been struggling to find places to stay and suddenly a whole new world opened up. There were loads of places shown that I would not find otherwise. I will certainly be using Airbnb much more in the future.