May 29 Cong, Ireland~School of Falconry~

Today Chad went to play golf at a course near Galway, Peg, Doods and Lily stayed near the hotel to shop and Trish, Ed, Luke, Sharon and I drove to Ashford Castle in Cong to the School of Falconry for our Hawk Walk.  We have decided that the western coastal area is our favorite so far. Yesterday's flat tire fiasco has not dampened our spirits.  The weather has been fine and our walk up to view the Cliffs of Moher certainly made our journey worthwhile.  I believe the farther north we travel, although the roads have not improved, the country side might be even prettier.  Nothing can compare to the impressiveness of the cliffs but the pastural beauty of this trip to Cong is very nice. We arrived at the castle and were met at the gates by guards that let us in.  We had to drive across the moat and then park near the castle.  This Norman castle dates back to 1228.  It was transformed in 1715with the addition of a French style chateau and in 1852 it was purchased by Sir Benjamin Guinness (of the brewing family).  It was a 10 minute walk to the falconry school.  The grounds were beautifully manicured gardens on either side of the walkway.  We arrived at the gates of the school and were greeted by our master falconer, Keelyn. (I'm not sure of the spelling and Keelyn was a girl)  She was working here for the summer and is going to vet school at the University of Dublin.  She made Luke feel right at home.  He carried one of the hawks out of the compound and I carried the other.  Our hawks were Harris Hawks that are actually native to the southwest United States.  We spent the next 40 minutes flying the hawks from our arms to the trees and then back to the glove. It was an awesome experience and when we finished, Keelyn showed us their newest hawk chicks, a 3 and 4 week old Harris hawk.

Ashford Castle in Cong, Ireland

The mews where the hawks stay at night

Glove on Hand, Hawk on Glove.  Meet Stoker

Keelyn putting Wild on Luke's glove

Walking the hawks out.

The two brothers were very competitive and both came to Sharon's glove for the bit of meat in her glove

Ed sending his hawk off

Happy Birthday to me, one day early!!

Baby Harris Hawk chicks

After the hawk walk we made a geocache hike.  We had the coordinates to a geocache hidden in the forest surrounding the castle at the Guinness Tower.  The Guinness Tower was built by the Guinness family in the 1800's and was in a scene of a movie called the The Quiet Man starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara in 1952.   We were on the wrong trail in the beginning and were about to give up the search when we met a couple on the trail that was heading back into town.  I thought we should follow them and at least get to civilization.  Ed and Trish were waiting back at the castle with the car but we had no working phones.  My, oh my, what did we ever do without cell phones.  As we walked along with the other couple we happened upon the tower quite by accident.  After locating the geocache and climbing to the top of the tower we found a trail with horse tracks which led us back to the stable to where we had started.

Looking for our first geocache in Ireland

We got a little lost for a short while but were successful in the end.  Can you see the tower in the background?

This is the top of the tower.  The trees were so thick that we couldn't see Sharon at the bottom.

Success! The Guinness Tower behind us.

One of the gardens on the castle grounds

This tower was next to the castle and a lot easier to find