Dog Days!

Thursday August 31, 2023

It's the last day of August, and nothing better than spending it with the dogs--a sheepdog, that is, along with a rainbow!   We are still looking for the pot of gold, but enjoyed watching border collie Glenn, work with his trainer to round up the sheep and bring them in.  The trainer explained they normally go through the herding process 4 times a year: 1) to shear the sheep, 2) to "dip" them (to get rid of parasites) 3) to breed them, and 4) to gather them for sale.

The sheep graze on thousands of acres of land.  They roam freely along the hills, and several farmers will work together to round up the herds, and get them separated by farm.  The sheep are marked with a color and brand to help identify them, and all of them are required by the government to be tagged. 

It was fascinating to watch the trainer and dog interact and to observe the control he had over the dog.   Glenn is 5 years old and did an amazing job of gathering the sheep.  The trainer explained the greatest reward was to give the dog another "run" with the sheep!

We then travelled down the road and were stopped multiple times by sheep in the middle of the road....

...and by crazy bicyclists in the middle of the road!  (Our driver called these Mamils-middleaged men in lycra, or organ donors!  He got a laugh out of that one.)

We were on our way to see  Killary Fjord, a long narrow body of water carved out by a glacier. 

Out in the water were mussel farms...the mollusks are growing on hanging nets in the cold seawater.  Mussels are quite a delicacy here.

We had the afternoon open to visit Westport House, the estate of English Lord Browne.

It is a stately mansion, passed down through generations to 5 daughters, who ultimately could not afford to maintain it, and it was purchased in 2017 by local investors who are in the process of restoring and preserving it.  A few of the daughters still live on a piece of land of the estate.  

The grounds are huge and beautiful...Those are sheep in the yard behind Jim!

Westport is one of the few "planned" towns in the 1760's, and the square is actually an octagon, surrounded by 30 townhomes which are now shops and markets.  There are no stop signs, as traffic is supposed to be "friendly".  We were surprised to find out that Westport supplies more than 90 of the world's botox supply!! (No wonder everyone here is smiling!)  A drug supplier (Allergan) employs more than 1200 people at their plant on the edge of town.

It's a colorful town with quite a personality.  They have won the "tidy town" award three different times!

They converted old phone booths into a more useful purpose!

The town is lively and friendly and everyone seems to know everyone.  Our guide led us into two different well-known pubs and we sampled Poitin, derived from the brewing process (another word for moonshine!) as well as local beer Mescun.

We also ventured into a pub to celebrate son-in-law Kurtis' birthday today! Another dog-gone good reason for a Guinness!