Out to the country

I’d like to thank Steven Spielberg for a lovely day yesterday. Or, perhaps, more appropriately, John Ford, or Hollywood Central Casting who could certainly have sent Padraic and Marion to us as the quintessential welcoming, gracious Irish ambassadors. But this is not “The Quiet Man,” they are all too real and so genuine. And our experience in John J. Burke and Sons pub in Clonbur proved the point. It might have been scripted by one of the writers at Paramount Studios. But first things first. We headed out with the Duffys at 10 a.m. for a tour of the Mayo lake country southeast of Westport. We took the high road and were treated to some stunning landscapes. The lakes are just gorgeous and very popular for brown trout and salmon fishing. If you want to pull out your map of Ireland, we motored around Lough (Irish for lake and pronounced “lock”) Corrib, Lough Cara, and Lough Mask. After driving through the village of Aghagower, we headed to the school where Padraic presided as principal for most of his education career. He hadn’t been back for several years and was much interested in the changes underway - new science and computer labs, new access ramps to the school, etc. This was also where Marion had spent five years at boarding school as a young girl, and where, in the chapel, the Duffys were married. A lot of family history in this building (it’s the tall concrete structure pictured above). You can also see the view Padraic had as a young teacher of business - a beautiful view of the lough through the window. His drive to work each day took about twenty minutes - through much of the scenery pictured here. Not too bad, huh? After more touring, we ended up in the village of Clonbur and went in search of a cup of coffee and a bit to eat. We went in Burkes House “ti bhurca” and all ordered the rhubarb crumble - so delicious and covered with a lovely rich custard. Within minutes the screenplay began as people entered the pub and Padraic engaged with the bartender and various customers. Irish was spoken, family lineage was explored, and previously unknown connections were established. Every single person had an easily understood place in the world, in an authentic way, not the hollow and superficial “six degrees of separation” sort of way that usually frames our view of the world. Family means something, means something that goes back in time and place. Candee and I sat in Burke’s absolutely bemused and delighted to be part of such an commonplace yet extraordinary experience. We just smiled and shook our heads as the banter and badinage flowed so sweetly and naturally.
From Burke’s we headed out toward Ashford Castle, first built by the Guinness family, and now operated as a hotel (www.ashford.ie in case you want to book a suite). We circled in from one of the illicit paths Padraic remembered, rather than drive in the front entrance like some common tourists. Padraic had to work from memory, it being years since he had assaulted the castle. He was confident he knew the way, and indeed, when we emerged from the woods we were well into the complex, right in front of the hotel, causing the young security guards to “talk into their sleeves” looking concerned about this unusual development. We casually drove through the hotel car park and back over the bridge, for all the world appearing to be addle-pated OAPS (Old Age Pensioners). Padraic secured our admission back into the complex via a surreptitious exchange of Euro and we explored this beautiful, huge estate unfettered. You see Candee and I pictured in front of “Squire Danagher’s home” which lies on the grounds of Ashford.
After the castle-grounds, we visited the neighboring ancient village of Cong. Duffy roots run deep here and many of the Abbots of the famed Cong Abbey had been O’Duffys. The Abbey was originally built by the powerful Turloch Mor O Conor, a king of Connacht (one of the four provinces of Ireland) around the year of 1110. The ruins are magnificent. And we visited so much more, but Padraic has sorely tested my feeble memory. We were back in Westport by 8:30 p.m. and enjoyed together a meal of locally sourced sea bass and pork and ended our meal with a very nice caramelized apple tart with rhubarb ice cream at the Westport Hotel bar. All dubbed “a good value” by Padraic.