Galway and the Corribb Princess

Another early morning saw me getting the 7.15 Bus Eireann service out of Dingle. It was a lovely cool morning and very clear, great conditions for driving through beautiful countryside on a bus.

The cows were up and having their breakfast and the morning mist was making it's way back up the mountains. I changed in Tralee station, which is a lovely modern building, for Limerick, and in Limerick I stepped off and then onto the Galway bus. I barely had to touch ground.

In Galway I went to the same B&B as last time, The Amber Lodge, because it's so good. An outdoor hot tub like! I enjoyed a very natural and fresh lunch in The Grainstore where, the legendary waiter/sandwich maker Donal told me, Tommy Tiernan ate his lunch yesterday.

The reason I was back in Galway again was because I was invited to take a cruise on the famous Corrib Princess.

The boat can hold 157 passengers and it has an upstairs viewing deck and a restaurant type cabin beneath, with windows all the way around of course. There is a bar in the cabin and they can also serve food. It is a guided tour, the captain tells you all about Galway and it's monuments that line the river bank. Today he also played a recording of the tour in French. There were about fifty people on the cruise and only three of us spoke English so we were spoiled rotten with our personal live guided tour.

The tour is nice and relaxing and interesting, it's always nice to be on a boat (in flat smooth water). But the poor old Corrib Princess had big shoes to fill after my kayak/Fungi experience the day before. I think the cruise is probably better suited to people slightly older than myself. If you are, like the huge French group in today's tour, between 30 and 60, you will probably love it. The large group certainly had a great time. They all got tea or coffee and scones and they were laughing and chatting excitedly. There was one scone to spare and let's be honest, it would have been very rude of me not to eat it. So I did, and it was yum.

I heard that The Rolling Stones were on the boat before. I wish I was there that day. They are my kind of 60 years olds.

It is a lovely boat and the stories of the castles and ruins and bridges are all very interesting. The scenery is gorgeous too, particularly the trees and the great expanse when the boat first sails into Lough Corrib. Thank you very much to all at Corrib Princess for inviting me onto the cruise today.

After that I sauntered home in no rush. I was absolutely wrecked after my busy few days and all the rowing yesterday. So I decided to stay in the B&B and order food in. I got a big yummy pizza, watched some Wimbledon and got a much needed early night.

To Sligo next.