My brotherin-law constantly tells us the West is best! He has a point

THE January blues are something I have managed to avoid these past few years, as we’ve been running away abroad, getting as far away as possible from the festivities. This year, as I told you last week, we headed to the West of Ireland on our break.

Galway was wet and windy, but Westport was very cold, freezing conditions and lots of sunshine after the rain.

The scenery on the Atlantic Coast is out of this world. Darling Derry and I were saying they could have filmed the entire Star Wars movie on the island of Ireland.

I got to see the latest Star Wars VIII, The Last Jedi, last week too. I loved it. I’ve watched them all from the start, and I even got to meet George Lucas in Dublin over 30 years ago. I have been a life-long fan, but seeing Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher on the same screen again was magical for me. My 13-yearold nephew agreed with me too. However, I digress.

As we were driving along the coast road from Galway to Mayo and then from Mayo home to Dublin, the barren scenery was breathtaking. The only ones I felt sorry for were the sheep. They were on the roads as well as in the fields and they all looked like they could do with a good wash and blow dry.

We had some of our cousins from Florida with us. They were so impressed with the beauty of Ireland in general, but particularly with Mayo and Achill. They were feeling the cold pretty badly, but when we heard it was snowing in Florida, they didn’t feel as bad then! We tried to get as much into the few days for them as possible. We brought them to Mulranny and had them try the Guinness there. Then we headed back to Westport to a new restaurant that opened just before Christmas, the Rustic Fork.

This is a casual place with a great selection of burgers as well as the usual fare. Even though it was so new, the place was hopping and we were all delighted with our choices. The next day we had a guided tour to and from Achill Island by our own Darling Derry. It’s years since I’ve been there and the place is just beautiful. The beach is so peaceful and tranquil.

Then it was back to Murrisk to the Tavern Bar and Restaurant where we had an early evening meal. The duck was so good. We had the obligatory Baileys coffee before returning to where my sister and her family live near Aughagower for a few glasses of vino and we all sat in front of the fire to watch the 1952 movie, The Quiet Man starring John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara. It’s a long time since I’ve seen this film and it never loses its charm.

It was the perfect end to a great few days, where my brother-in-law constantly tells us that the West is best!

He has a point.