We were up early this morning – tough after yesterday’s gruelling passage, but we really wanted to get ashore, see a little of Aran and then get away in time to make the lock gate entrance at Galway – it closes at 1700.
We were on a buoy which meant that we had to get out Terry the tender (he’s heavy!) inflate him, lower over the side and fit the outboard. Not really a big deal but hard work early in the morning and I was really wondering whether it was going to be worth all the effort. My doubts increased when we got ashore and discovered that the most straightforward way of seeing the ancient fort Dun Aonghusa (the main site on the island) was to hire bikes and cycle.
But cycle we did and the fort was stunning – set high on massive cliffs but the whole landscape was equally interesting – lots of bare rocks, tiny stone walled fields battered by the Atlantic weather.
We cycled for a couple of hours, bought some milk and ice in the supermarket and headed back to Little Scarlet just as hundreds of day trippers were arriving by ferry. With Terry quickly deflated and stowed we were on our way by midday towards Galway.
Facilities for visiting yachts were not guaranteed in Galway – there is a small harbour enclosed behind a lock that only opens for a couple of hours before high water and a visitors buoy or two but we were slightly concerned we might not find a berth. Within an hour of the harbour we called the harbour master by VHF – no answer, we called their phone number it being a Saturday there was only an ‘out of office’ message so we pressed on and arriving at 1630 the lock was open so we entered. It was a small harbour basin with commecial shipping one side and yachts the other.
We turned towards the yachts and saw a man working on his beautiful wooden yacht – shiuting to him we asked him if there were any visitors berths available – his response was ‘berth here’ alongside me’ – so we did! We were very lucky; there were not any other obvious spaces and we would have had to leave the harbour and moor to a buoy outside but now were alongside, able to walk ashore without using Terry The Tender. Our new neighbour was Swiss, he had brought the boat and his young family from France and was spending some time in Ireland while his partner attended Galway University, his children attended school locally and he ‘worked from his boat’.
The ‘run- ashore’ in Galway was dominated by the Champions League Final! Every pub seemed to be full of Irish Liverpool supporters or hen parties! First impressions of Galway were that it is clearly a ‘party-town’; there was a lot of drinking and large groups of people out and about but the atmosphere was very cheerful – I’m sure there are many exceptions but (stereotyping warning!) the Irish seem to be ‘happy drinkers’!
We decided that we would have a full day (Sunday) alongside in Galway to allow us time to relax and recover from our two long days after leaving Dingle and that we would leave through the lock gate at high water at 0600 on Monday morning.
We decided to get some breakfast ashore before heading off to do some victualling (food shopping), bunkering (refuelling diesel) refilling our water tanks and then granting the crew some leave!
During breakfast we noticed large numbers of fellow diners who were dressed in blue and yellow or maroon and white sports shirts. We discovered that Galway were playing Roscommon in the Gaelic football Connacht Championship Final; the ground was around half an hour’s walk away and due to start fairly shortly so I left Nigel to do the shopping and headed off to the Staid an Phiarsaigh.
There were apparently around 30000 fans in the stadium, most standing without segregated areas, often with children all in a very friendly atmosphere. The game was, I thought, really entertaining even though I had to have the rules explained to me by a very patient chap standing next to me! Galway won – the score was 2-19 to 2-16 and they now progress into the All Ireland quarter-final. I would definitely go to a Gaelic Football game again if I have the opportunity. More details here - Gaelic Football wikipedia article
After the game I walked back along the seafront to the harbour – fans were enjoying the beach and i spotted a few Galway hookers – the classic Galway sailing fishing vessels that are now raced and have a local beer named after them!
