Belvedere House aand Longford Cathederal June 2018

Our Day trip to Longford Cathedral – June 2018

Our lovely warm sunny weather seemed to have come to an end as 50 of our members boarded the bus on June 13^th and headed for Belvedere House and Longford Cathedral. After an hour’s drive we arrived at the home of “that Wicked Earl” the first Earl of Belvedere, Robert Rochford. The house was built in 1740 as a hunting lodge. Robert gained notoriety for imprisoning his second wife , Mary Molesworth ,for 31 years on a spurious charge of infidelity. This magical estate is now owned by Westmeath Co. Council.

The clouds parted and the rain stayed away while we spent some time exploring the old house and lovely gardens. After a welcome tea/coffee break we continued on our journey to Longford.

The beautiful St. Mel’s Cathedral is well worth a visit. It was completely destroyed by fire on Dec 25^th 2009. Some of the country’s most priceless artefacts were burned to cinders. One remarkable painting of the Holy Family survived. It was restored at a cost of 30 million and attracts thousands of visitors.

After all this sight seeing, we were ready to enjoy a lovely dinner in the Longford Arms Hotel. For some, I believe the boutiques along the way were too tempting to pass.!!

We arrived home safely having enjoyed another day’s outing in our lovely country. Looking forward to the next one in July P.G.

 

Chris O’Flynn (P.R.O.) June 2018

Walkers Boat trip on the CORRIB

Our Boat trip on the Corrib

There was a great flurry of excitement amongst the members of the walking club when our good Treasurer announced she had arranged a free days outing for us on Tues.29^th May. ’18 .

Once again the weather man was very kind to us.. It was a lovely warm sunny day so we donned the sun hats , sun glasses and rubbed on lashing of sun lotion to protect our pale skins .

We were like little excited children as 30 of us boarded our bus in the Square. First stop was Salthill where we spent two hours walking the prom, enjoying lunch or doing as we please while soaking up the lovely sunshine.

It was back on the bus then again and headed for Woodquay where the “Corrib Princess” was waiting for us. It was a wonderful, enjoyable relaxing trip under clear blue skies. As we cruised along this magnificent lake, taking in the history , scenery and wild life, the day could not have been more perfect.

We finished off the day with a very welcome dinner in the Meadow Court Hotel in Loughrea and arrived home safely, sun-tanned , tired but happy.

Thank you to Noelle for a day to remember.

Chris O’Flynn (P.R.O ) June 2018