By: Blonde Two

Forget the whiskey liqueur for a moment (there are far finer things to do with whiskey here in Ireland), today my sister Ali and I have been experiencing our first (and I suspect not our last) actual Irish mist.

On our taxi ride from Dublin our fabulous (and very entertaining) driver Adrian (from McKennas Ireland Tours) mentioned the lack of sunshine here several times. We proved him wrong this morning by visiting Lough Meeagh for an outdoor swim at sunrise (well nearly sunrise). I think that maybe the sun here rises into the clouds because it has disappeared again and left us with a lovely view out of our castle window (Kilronan Castle Hotel) of the Lough and the misty mountains beyond.

We are off out to explore this beautiful and wild corner of Ireland this afternoon but to keep ourselves entertained between the most delicious and comprehensive of breakfasts and this afternoon’s trip, we visited Kilronan Castle’s lovely spa.

The spa was a great contrast to the chilly Lough. Our feet were slipper-clad over warmed tiles (as opposed to being mud-clad over spiky rocks), we melted into warm water (as opposed to crawling into silky, cold water) and we had the pleasure of trying out both ‘Arctic Mist’ and ‘Caribbean Rainfall’ showers.

Two different types of mist, I am sure you will agree, is impressive for one morning’s effort. ‘Effort’ is, of course, completely the wrong word because Roscommon (our little corner of West Ireland) is so peaceful that effort seems a million miles away.

I have only been in Ireland now for 24 hours and already the peace and beauty these lakes and hills is seeping into my bones. We are here for two more days and are going to be exploring the Miners Way Historical Trail, which looks as though it everything a Blonde could want (except of course her other Blonde), lakes, hills, views, fascinating history… and of course, Irish mist.