Rohan's first tramp

We went on our holidays last week to the West of Ireland. The west of Ireland in terms of sightseeing is the equivalent to NZ's South Island. It's not that there isn't lots to see and do in the North Island of NZ or indeed the East coast of Ireland it's just that there's more in the South & West of the respective countries. By coincidence the weather is the same also i.e. it gets pretty wild in the West of Ireland. We went to a place called Connemara in County Galway and below is a map which shows where we were. We actually stayed in Galway city too but I have decided to do this post first as it is easier. There's a good link to a web site here.


In Connemara there is a national park and within the park there are four tramps which are actually one big tramp broken down into four parts. As it happens the weather was relatively good the day we arrived, however, we decided not to do the longest tramp to the top of the mountain on the advice of the tourist centre. Too windy and dangerous for Rohan. Here's the entrance and a close up of the sign. I don't think you would have to be a native Irish speaker to understand the sign even if it is in Gaelic! Be warned it's not all as easy as that though!

After you pass through the entrance pavilion you descend to the tourist centre which is adjacent to a lake, from here you set out on a 4 km loop to the top of Diamond Hill.

Rohan being carried by his dad on his first ever tramp.

Mam & Dad and part of Rohan's head oops...

Some views along the tramp.

A view up the branch off for the full tramp up the mountain. You basically walk to the top where the views are meant to be very dramatic.

Some views along our decent.

Back at the tourist centre for a well earned bowl of soup.

More on Galway in the next post.

Cathal