Landscape in the Connemara National Park during a hike, Connemara, County Galway, Ireland
Some background information:
Six weeks, no photos: After catching the ESME virus (caused by a tick bite) I finally feel able to upload pictures again. The last six weeks were really complicated. It started with fever, shivers, an outage of motor functions (falling down several times) and communication disorder. Hence, I was brought to a university hospital by an ambulance. After two weeks of medical examinations, where they found several "shadows" in my brain (caused by both meningitis and encephalitis), I was eventually discharged from hospital.
However, I was still in rather bad shape. Having lost twelve kilograms of muscular mass, I couldn’t climb stairs and was in a great deal of pain. Curre ntly, I am still suffering from back age and limb pain, but at least, I’ve started to recover now. To advance recovery, I will have to make an in-patient rehab for the next three weeks. Hopefully, my muscles will be built up again and the therapists there will also allay my pain. It’s still some way back to where I was, but I am full of confidence that I will get there in a few months.
The Connemara National Park is one of six national parks in Ireland, managed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service. It is located on the Irish west coast in the northwest of the Connemara region in County Galway. The park was founded and opened to the public in 1980. It features 2,000 ha (4,900 acres) of mountains, bogs, heaths, grasslands and forests. The entrance is situated on the Clifden side of the village of Letterfrack. There are many remnants of human habitation within the park, e.g. a 19th-century graveyard as well as 4,000-year-old megalithic court tombs. Much of the land once used to belong to the Kylemore Abbey estate.
Western blanket bog and heathland are the most common vegetation of the Connemara National Park. The boglands are situated in the wet low lying environments whereas the blanket bog exists within the drier mountain atmosphere. Purple moorgrass is the most bountiful plant, creating colorful landscapes throughout the countryside. Carnivorous plants play an important role in the park's ecosystem, the most common being sundew and butterworts trap. Bogs hold very little nutrients so many plants obtain their energy from the digestion of insects. Other common plants include lousewort, bog cotton, milkwort, bog asphodel, orchids and bog myrtle, with a variety of lichens and mosses.
The Connemara National Park is noted for its diversity of bird life. Common song birds include meadow pipits, skylarks, European stonechats, common chaffinches, European robins and Eurasian wrens. Native birds of prey include the common kestrel and Eurasian sparrowhawk with the merlin and peregrine falcon being seen less frequently. Woodcock, common snipe, common starling, song thrush, mistle thrush, redwing, fieldfare and mountain goat migrate to Connemara during the winter.
Mammals are often difficult to find, but are present nonetheless. Field mice are common in the woodlands, whereas rabbits, foxes, stoats, shrews, and bats at night, are often sighted in the boglands. Red deer once roamed the Connemara but were extirpated from the area approximately 150 years ago. An attempt was made to reintroduce red deer to Connemara and a herd was established within the park. Nowadays, the largest mammal in the park is the Connemara pony.
The Wild Atlantic Way is a tourism trail on the west coast, and on parts of the north and south coasts, of Ireland. The serrated logo of the Wild Atlantic Way symbolises the letters W – A - W. The 2,500 km (1,553 mile) driving route passes through nine counties and three provinces, stretching from County Donegal's Inishowen Peninsula in the very north of Ireland to Kinsale, County Cork, on the Celtic Sea coast in the very south. Along the route there are 157 discovery points, 1,000 attractions and more than 2,500 activities. In 2014, the route was officially launched by the Republic of Ireland’s Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, Michael Ring.
However, the roads forming the Wild Atlantic Way have always been favoured by locals and tourists alike for generations even before they became known collectively as the Wild Atlantic Way route. They offer truly spectacular Atlantic Ocean vistas as well as many places to visit and sights by the roadside. More than 150 locations have been officially designated as Discovery Points. These have been marked locally with a special signpost.
County Galway is a county in the west of Ireland, taking up the south of the province of Connacht. The traditional county includes the city of Galway, but the city and county are separate local government areas. Currently, the population of the county is more than 276,000. In the west of the county, there are several Irish-speaking areas.
The first inhabitants in the Galway area arrived over 7000 years ago. The county originally comprised several kingdoms and territories which predate the formation of the county. These kingdoms included Aidhne, Uí Maine, Maigh Seóla, Conmhaícne Mara, Soghain and Máenmaige. In 1569, County Galway became an official entity. The region known as Connemara retains a distinct identity within the county, though its boundaries are unclear. Hence, it may account for as much as one third or as little as 20% of the county. Places of interest in Galway are among others the Connemara National Park, Kylemore Abbey and Dunguaire Castle.