Today started my preparations to return to the U.S. In order to re-enter the U.S. you need to have a negative Covid test. One of the main reasons I chose Ireland for my trip was the ease with which you could schedule a Covid test.

My test was in the city of Galway and about one and a half hours away. I didn’t know how many times I would get lost but assumed it would be several so I tried to give myself extra time. I left about 45 minutes early and flew down the Irish roads. Probably made my best time ever on those roads! I also had two gps systems going as my regular one has been troublesome on this trip.

Turns out I wasted a lot of good time worrying for nothing. Not only did I get there in plenty of time but there was only one other person there! All told registering and taking the test probably took 5 minutes, give or take and then I was off for the day.

I didn’t have a real full day planned, just in case the testing took longer or there was a long queue. My main plan was to do the Clifden sky road drive. It came up as a must do for the area. But more on that in a minute.

My first stop was actually a random castle that I saw a sign for and since time wasn’t really pressing I decided to see it. The castle was called Aughnanure, go ahead and try to pronounce it, and was yet another Irish tower fortress. You may have noticed several of these. That’s because they were a popular and fashionable castle in the 14th and 15th centuries. Fairly good protection before cannons became widespread, then not so much.

The next part of my travels for the day was the Clifden Sky Road drive. It’s this area’s answer to the Ring of Kerry, just not as long or good. It’s still a good drive and worth doing but limited in what you get to see.

I had lunch in the town of Clifden. The town is similar to Kinsale and Killarney in that it is very much set up to cater to tourists. That’s not necessarily a bad thing as there were quite a few restaurants to choose from and a variety of gift shops.

I had pizza for lunch! Whatever, I’ve had a ton of fish and chips and could use a change.

The last place I saw was the small town of Cong. It’s famous for a movie called the Quiet Man, I’d never heard of it. After I found out that John Wayne had starred in it I understood why they promote the town as the shooting location so much.

By this time it had started to rain so pictures were limited to what I could take while under cover.

Tomorrow I start my journey back towards Dublin in preparation for my flight.

Connemara and Mayo are very rural compared with some of the other areas I’ve been to but don’t seem to have as many popular sites to offer. However, if you like hiking or biking this is definitely a great place to come. I may need to give the area another chance at some point in the future as it did rain a lot here but we will see.