15th June, 2025

I made some toast and coffee and added a banana for my breakfast in the kitchen at Anne’s farm. Some had already left and others. like Jackie, were preparing to leave. I probably got out a bit late, around 6am and set off around Loughrea and north-west through Connemara.

The geography of the route so far had astounded me with the variation in landscape and Connemara raised the game even further.

It was pretty isolated, though from time to time I would pass or be passed (more often) by another cyclist. Then I came to the Doolough Valley and the memorial to the individuals who died there during the famine.

On Friday 30 March 1849, two officials of the Westport Poor Law Union arrived in Louisburghto inspect those people in receipt of outdoor relief to verify that they should continue to receive it. The inspection, for some reason, did not take place and the two officials went on to Delphi Lodge – a hunting lodge – 19 kilometres (12 miles) south of Louisburgh where they intended to spend the night. Several hundred people who had gathered for the inspection, or later did so, were consequently instructed to appear at Delphi Lodge at 7am the following morning if they wished to continue receiving relief. For much of the night and day that followed seemingly hundreds of destitute and starving people had to undertake what for them, given their existing state of debilitation, was an extremely fatiguing journey, in very bad weather.

A letter-writer to The Mayo Constitution newspaper reported shortly afterwards that the bodies of seven people, including women and children, were subsequently discovered on the roadside between Delphi and Louisburgh overlooking the shores of Doolough lake,and that nine or ten more people never reached their homes. While some sources put the total number of deaths at approximately 20 people, local sources suggest that the number who perished was far higher.

A cross and an annual ‘Famine Walk’ between Louisburgh and Doolough commemorate the event.^[8] The monument in Doolough valley has an inscription from Mahatma Gandhi: “How can men feel themselves honoured by the humiliation of their fellow beings?” [ref: Wikipedia].

It was a somber and desolate place and I was relieved to move on and head to Westport where I had booked into a guesthouse.

I got a text message telling me how to access the accommodation and where to leave my bike. Everything was done remotely and there was no one around when I got there, let myself in and dumped some kit before cycling up a very steep hill to a Tesco and getting supplies for my dinner.

Cold chicken pasta, sushi, chocolate milk and a Philadelphia cream cheese roll filled me up.

I also had to charge the powermeter pedals on my bike as well as my phone, Garmin and headphones. Showering, eating and charging were quickly followed by sleeping.

I was pleased with the distance I had covered and looked forward to making it round Achill Island the next day. Little did I know!