No strangers, just friends you have not yet met...
Images of Ireland offer small group, escorted Holidays to ensure a higher quality and more personal service. Let me personally take you to parts of connemara that are not even shown in the usual holiday brochures, parts that only the local irish themselves know about. The real ireland - the “hidden ireland”.
Each party will consist of not more than 14 guests and evenings are spent either relaxing around the turf fire or enjoying the music in the local pubs, the choice is yours.
Renvyle, Conemmara
Whenever I need to relax, sometimes hill walking, sometimes simply admiring the landscape, I return to my roots in Connemara. The countless lakes and rivers surrounded by dramatic mountain ranges and the small sheltered bays along the coastline are wonderful places for enjoying spectacular scenery and watching a wealth of wildlife.
In Connemara every month of the year has its own special magic. May and June are perhaps the lovliest months of the year and particularly appealing for those looking for a tranquil holiday. July days are long, being so far west the sun sets late over meadows strewn with wild orchids and thyme. The sea is warmer and the long sandy beaches are paradise. Autumn is the season of changing colours when the turf bogs turn auburn, the heather mingles with the gorse and sunsets are magnificent.
On the western edge of Ireland lies the Renvyle Peninsula. Bordered by the peaks of the Twelve Bens, Killary Harbour and the Atlantic it is a landscape shaped by time, nature and the people who call Renvyle home. Whenever we visit Connemara, we stay with Virginia Davin at “The Olde Castle House”, where you can be sure of a “Ceád Mile Fáilte”, which in English means “a hundred thousand welcomes”. In my experience “Renvyle” hospitality is second to none.
Kilbaha, County Clare
Just over an hour from Shannon airport by mini bus, we stay at the Lighthouse Inn which occupies a lovely position near the tip of the Loop Head Peninsula, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and the River Shannon Estuary. Maureen Walsh has created a fine pub and restaurant, where music can be heard during our stay and the bar serves the best Guinness for miles around. Typical of hidden Ireland, there’s also a shop at the back of the pub and all rooms are en-suite. The Lighthouse Inn can only be described as a friendly place to stay where walkers will feel very comfortable.
The restaurant is renowned for its wide selection of locally caught fresh seafood. The chef selects only the finest fresh meat, fish & seasonal vegetables from local suppliers. The Lighthouse Inn has an extensive menu to suit all tastes and budgets.
A few minutes from Kilbaha brings us to the “Loop Head Lighthouse” marking the western-most point of the peninsula where the Shannon estuary meets the Atlantic. The road rises as it approaches the headland; “a plateau of sea-pink enclosed by steep 66m cliffs”. The cliffs on either side of Loop Head provide outstanding scenic views as well as opportunities to observe the abundant bird-life.