Trip to Cong
On Wed. 14th July’10, 47 members of the Ballinasloe Active Retirement Association had a very pleasant trip to Cong. We started off by bus from St.Michael’s square at 8.30 a.m.. The weather forecast was bad, but we needn’t have worried as we managed during the day to escape most of the showers.
We drove to the pretty village of Cong and from there we took a boat up the Corrib. Our Captain gave us an entertaining talk as we passed various islands. He told us that many years ago the Corrib was a busy trading area, boats plying up the full length to the City of Galway. He also told us about the Canal that never was! A lot of time and money and manpower was spent in digging this canal between the Corrib and Lough Mask. When it was eventually finished, the porous limestone could not hold the water, so the canal had to be abandoned.
After the boat trip, we went to see Ashford Castle and were impressed by it’s size and the beautiful grounds. . Unfortunately we were not residents and were not allowed inside. A few intrepid members of our group peeped in the door, and some more courageous went into the diningroom.
Then we went to Ryan’s Hotel for our lunch. And a very good lunch it was too!
After lunch we were taken on a tour of the sites of the film “The Quiet Man” We had a very witty and entertaining guide who encouraged us to act out parts from the film. This started off with Jimmy Lyons being allocated the part of “the dying man” This character in the film, hearing that a fight had started in the street outside his house forgot about dying, jumped our of bed and ran the length of the street while holding up his trousers!
After getting off to such a good start, we all entered into the spirit of the thing, and enjoyed all the “craic”
We got back to Ballinasloe at 6.15, tired but happy with our day and thankful to Bridie Whelan and Chris O’Flynn for all the hard work of organising the outing.
Signed: Eileen Quinn
Members try out as extras on the set of "The Quiet Man"
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