The Dog's Bay Excursion

Wednesday I left for the coastline to the west. Riding through the lower area of the Connemara and then turning south to roundstone I got some lovely pictures. The last one I took is the first one I'll start with (pictured to the right) of the sun setting, if you enlarge it you can see the rays jutting out between the trees and the mountain-side.

I walked around the town of roundstone, that Tara had suggested seeing the other night. It was really small as shown below with the bay to it's left. I also stopped for some scenic pics in the afternoon:

By early afternoon, I'd arrived at Dog's bay. A small sea inlet that was shetlered by a small piece of land that spiraled out into the bay. The sand was pure white, and with the sun out it created crystal clear water that sparkled in the sunlight along with the sand. Despite the wind, it was reasonably warm outside, though the water was actually warmer (or so it felt). I stripped down on the beach, threw on a pair of boxers and went for a swim. It felt like the arctic getting into it, but once it the water was really refreshing. I took a dive and had forgotten that it was the atlantic, coming up with salt in my eyes. For a while i just floated around and lost track of time while avoiding the jellyfish.

There were cows that wandered on and off of the beach, and I walked around the surrounding hills to photo them and the countryside:

I meant to meet Marie at the Crane for some traditional music, but she had some unexpected family stop in and I couldn't get to the bar they were at. I was nearly worn out myself from the sun & salt, so i went to bed at a reasonable hour for the first time this week. Taking it easy in anticipation of the 30th; I'd planned to stop by the recruiters in town, get a good healthy breakfast, and go off to the Galway Races to bet on any horse that coincided with 32 for my bday.