They're Taking the Hobbits to Isengard!

I spent the last two days in Middle Earth, no lie.
On Friday morning we departed the PLH for Connemara, a region of west Ireland known for its rocky and mountainous terrain. We headed for the small town of Clifden for Clifden Arts Week and a poetry reading by world renowned Nobel Laureate poet Seamus Heaney, but before all of that we stopped at a place called Mamean.
Mamean was a place within the mountains that St. Patrick supposedly visited. There is a small chapel there and amongst the rocks there are 12 Gaelic crosses marking the stations of the cross. At Mamean we were given some free time to wander and explore. Some climbed to the top of the said mountain, up into the clouds. Others like myself explored the rocky outcroppings and took a look at the small lake and stream that were to be seen.
In my exploring, I climbed to the top of an outcropping that was situated directly in the middle of a sort of valley between two mountains, it was here, standing on this outcropping that I felt like I was in Middle Earth, following the trail of the orcs through Rohan. Let the outpouring of nerdiness begin. Those of you familiar with Lord of the Rings will know the scene in The Two Towers that I am talking about, those of you who don't, I am sorry, read up!

Anyway, standing on this outcropping in Connemara, I felt like Aragorn, following the trail of the Orcs who, at the time, were taking the Hobbits, Merry and Pippen to the tower of Isengard where the White Wizard Sauroman was building an army. I honestly felt like my favorite, Lord of the rings character, standing on that rocky outcropping, following the trail, and being just downright awesome. I am awesome, a huge nerd, I know.

Now as the trip into Connemara progressed I kept thinking of Lord of the Rings and making references about it to my friends who, also being nerds, joined in to my pleasure. Eventually we learned why we felt like we had this feeling of being in Middle Earth, because we were.
It ends up that J.R.R. Tolkien, the amazing author of Lord of the Rings, was a guest lecturer at the National University of Galway-Ireland and spent quite a bit of time on Ireland's west coast, specifically Connemara. Tolkien drew a large amount of influence from the region in writing The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. The rocky terrain, the green fields, the mountains, all of these features you see in Connemara are the same ones you imagine and see in Lord of the Rings. Tolkien also drew from the Gaelic language itself in naming places and people of Middle Earth. All of this knowledge really made me excited because Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit are some of the best books/stories ever in my opinion.

If you wonder where all of this knowledge comes from, it comes from our extraordinary bus driver, Allen. Allen is absolutely amazing in the amount of information he has. He seems to know everything about everything we pass on the road and he knows everything about every place we go. He has been a fisherman, a farmer, a bus driver, and has had several other careers that we haven't heard yet, all around this man is the best bus driver ever, providing us with a constant stream of knowledge and information that never seems to get old, and is always interesting.

The rest of our time in Connemara was relaxing and enjoyable. We went to the poetry reading in a beautiful little church in Clifden and enjoyed a very enthusiastic reading of poetry! Woo! I am not too big into poetry and honestly wasn't expecting much, but how can you not feel privileged to listen to a Nobel Prize Winner in Literature read his poetry, it was definitely an experience.
After listening to poetry we regrouped and dispersed out into the town where we settled in numerous local pubs to listen to traditional music and enjoy a pint or two, a very fantastic evening to say the least.
This morning was low key, as was the rest of the day. We woke up and left our hostel. Some of the group went to Connemara national park and hiked, some of us, including myself explored the little town of Clifden. We went to a coffee house, had some delicious coffee and crepe like pancakes with cheese and ham inside, very delicious!
We regrouped around 12:30 and left for the PLH. We made a stop at Aughnanure Castle which was a small tower fortress that was interesting. We were all a little dazed so it seemed we didn't take it in as well as we should have, but oh well. We returned to the PLH safe and sound and have had some downtime to ourselves and now we are about to enjoy another amazing stew, prepared by Pat. Mmmmmmm!

So far, so good in this wild country called Ireland! Hope things are well at home!
Enjoy your weekend!