Exploring Kinlough and Area

Our day here in Kinlough started with a lazy wake up at around 9:00 am. We had a great breakfast in the old house and then decided to see some of the other parts of the house. I was delighted to see two small kittens in one of the rooms. Me and Daniel learned that Jo and Paul rescued these kittens, and that they had already given away 2 of their littler pages. It was delightful playing with the little excitable kittens.

Pearl 

Pearl was an energetic cat that was not at all afraid of meeting new people, and he is in the picture above. It was great fun having Pearl chase a bell around. Possum, in the picture below was a shy little kitten and just wouldn't come out for the first ten or fifteen mintues while we were in the room. She simply hid under a desk and refused to come out. But with gentle coaxing we were able to get her out too, and finally play a bit as well, but much more hesitantly than Pearl.

Possum

Daisy

Finally there was the third cat Daisy. She is 3 years old and the regular resident cat in the house. Daisy could be a bit grumpy at times, but when you got out a stick with feathers on it she went absolutely mad and played about a lot. It was a lot of fun playing with her too.

An extremely old Bookshelf

 Me and Daniel were glad to find out that Jo and Paul were great readers with bookshelves scattered throughout the house. Daniel was able to see many of the books he is going to have to get next year, and even get a head start on reading some of them. There was also no T.V., something that may have had other people scrambling, but with the cats, books and music of course there was no need for an electricity sucking television.

The Irish Contryside

 After heaving a great breakfast we headed out to Mt. Aroo, the enormous mountain that overlooks Kinlough. We were able to get up it in the car to the clean mountain air. Me and Daniel were quite surprised to see that there were many sheep that roamed the land that other people let graze here. While we were driving we got to hear some of the history of Kinlough and where it got its name. Right east of Kinlough there is a lake called Lough Melvin. Kin means end in Gaelic and that's how the establishments name was derived, as it was at the end of the lake.

An Abandoned Cottage

Near the top of the mountain we were also surprised to see that there were some small abandoned buildings. Jo and Paul explained to us that they used to be sort of cottages for people. Most of these little ruins were quite far from us and it was difficult to get a picture, but they were great to see anyway.

Fawley's Falls

 Next we drove down the other side of the mountain and got to see some more Irish greenery as we went. Our next stop was a path just to the side of the road and me and Daniel were a bit perplexed until Paul explained to us we were going to be going down to see some waterfalls. We traveled down the path through the forest, beside a quite river, until we got to the first set of falls, and saw the crystal clear water coming down slight ridges. I was able to get into the picture above the paragraph by walking out into the middle of the river on another slight ledge. Jo explained to us that Ireland had been experiencing less rain that usual (not that we noticed) and that usually the falls were much more extravagant. But none the less, it was beautiful to see. Under this paragraph was another picture I had taken, though there were countless pictures of the beautiful falls I took, but, I couldn't post them all.

Fawley's Falls

After Fawley's falls we came home for lunch and had some great crisp sandwiches based on Daniel's suggestion. Me and Daniel then decided to go over to the post office. After we went to the local pharmacy to pick up some shampoo and soap for myself and just soap for Daniel. We had originally had these little strips of shampoo, but having thick heavy hair just didn't allow for good lathering. 

Catholic Church

 After that we decided to take a look at one of the local churches. This church was just outside the house we were staying in and it was the local catholic church. The protestant church was across the street and had a cross that had been hand carved by Tommy Whitten, Daniel's great grand father, but unfortunately we were not able to see it because the church was closed. The service had been moved to Bundoran this week, which was another small town just to the north.

5000 year old Tomb

After our great lunch and then tour around the city we went out again on another trip. We started by visiting a five thousand year old tomb. The we went over to Mullaghmore which is a pier just about 10 km from Kinlough. We were quite interested to see this sign when we arrived at the beach:

Interesting Signs in Sligo

Atlantic Ocean

 Of course we then walked down the beach and got to see the Atlantic stretching out, of course from the opposite side most of the people from Canada would see it. It was quite a sight seeing the beach stretch out as well. Of course it was nothing like the beaches in Canada that are covered in all sorts of garbage, it was a pristine and clean beach only littered with seashells.

Its FREE!

 We also got to see some binoculars, that were free. I have never actually used one of these till our trip our to Mullaghmore, and it was nice to finally see through one. Of course, it was not very helpful because of the fog and mist that was surrounding much of the bay we were in.

An amazing sight

Our final stop on this great drive around was at another mountain by Kinlough. This had to be one of the most breathtaking sights I have ever seen as it looked as the the land suddenly swung upward at 90 degrees. If I were ever to suddenly decide to move to Ireland it would be here, looking out over this amazing sight. 

After the amazing sights around Kinlough and the beautiful countryside we headed back to the house, and had a great dinner. Its so sad me and Daniel will be leaving here. It was amazing to visit. I would also like to thank Jo and Paul so much for having us, and showing us around. Thanks!

- Kamaljot