demm42 - County Clare (Ireland) #5/5

County Galway - Gort (An Gort)

On this page I thought we'd actual just take a trip over into County Galway, and a look at the town of Gort and the attractions we visited surrounding it (Kilmacdaugh Monastic Site, Coole Park and Thoor Ballylee).

 We'll also give Mountshannon by Lough Derg a quick mention.

Gort (An Gort)

Gort is a town about 31km (19 miles) north of Ennis on the main N18 road that continues up to Galway.

Gort is a nice place to stop and have a look around the shops (it even has an Aldi which looks just the same as any UK Aldi and sells the same products). Anyway, the point is stock up on your picnic stuff.

As far as the other shops go, the town has a mixture of small shops although none are really aimed at visitors and they are more for the benefit of the local community. However this does prove that the town isn't a tourist trap.

The one thing Gort does lack is toilets. Okay I tell a lie. It does have a mens toilet. The womens toilet is in the town hall whose gates were locked when we visited. Thanks!! For the first time on the holiday, we had to go into a hotel to use the toilets (and get a well deserved coffee!!).

Talking of toilets, one location you can find them in the area is at Coole Park, just north of Gort. It's a lovely relaxing place for a walk (well it was the day we were in the area) and also has a nice tearoom.

The only problem we had was that County Clare and County Galway (along with other parts of Ireland) were battered by thunderstorms on the day we visited Gort. While we managed to avoid the storms (I don't know how), their effect did cause problems. Coole Park tearoom had a power cut wasn't serving anything when we went in. This was the first of several places that were affected this way on that day.

Earlier in the day we'd travelled into Gort from Corrofin passing the Kilmacdaugh Monastic Site. Well actually we didn't pass it. We went and had a walk around as soon as we saw the tower (curiousity got the better of us). You can see the storms brewing in the picture.

Anyway, the monastery was founded in the 7th century and it still remains one of the finest collections of monastic buildings in Ireland.

The thing that got my attention was the tower. There's no door at the bottom, its halfway up. (Must have been tall people these monks). Seriously though, the reason for this was to be able to hide out from attackers. They climbed a ladder or rope to get into the tower, and then pulled it up and hid out until the attack finished. Clever people these monks.

The other side of Gort on the Loughrea road is Thoor Ballylee, once owned by William Butler Yeats, the famous poet (I believe. I tend not to be a follower of poets). Anyway, the tower was (or castle) was originally built in the 16th century as a Norman Castle consisting of four floors linked by a steep spiral staircase.

However we didn't tour the tower. Yes you guessed it, the first place we actually considered paying to tour, and the storms had caused a power cut. So we had a look around the gift shop (which had a good selection of gifts) in the dark. There is also a tearoom here, and more importantly toilets.

If you'd like to find out more about Gort and the surrounding area, visit the Gort Community Website.

Finally, just over the county border back in County Clare is Mountshannon (quite a distance from Gort actually) by Lough Derg, one of Irelands largest lakes. The reason I'm giving it a mention (apart from the toilets) is the fact that it's another nice place for a stop or even a picnic. For the kids, you can feed the ducks/swans and catch the small fish in your fishing nets (easier said then done). Boat trips to Holy Island, a monastic settlement of great importance in ancient Ireland can also be caught from the harbour.

Well that concludes page 5 of the tour. Page 6 (the last page of the tour) includes Ballybunion and some comparisons between driving in the UK and Ireland.