Patrick Comerford
After the rain and thunder storms earlier this week, summer has returned to this part of Ireland.
Two friends have come to stay in the Rectory in Askeaton for the weekend, and at first it seemed that both the rain and the Foynes Air Show were going to immobilise us and stop any efforts to show off this part pf west Limerick and north Kerry.
But the sun came out early this afternoon [22 July 2017], and after a rehearsal in Saint Mary’s Church, Askeaton, for a Baptism tomorrow, four of us decided to have another look at the former Franciscan Friary in Askeaton.
The cloisters in this friary, known locally as the Franciscan Abbey, never lose their ‘wow factor’ for me, and deserve to be restored. They have the same appeal as the cloisters in Saint John Lateran in Rome or Belem in Lisbon.
The traffic was heavy on the road to Foynes, but we decided to follow the diversions through Shanagolden, and few delays we arrived in Tarbert, Co Kerry, and caught the ferry across the Shannon Estuary to Killimer, Co Clare.
From there, it was a short drive in the afternoon sun through Kilrush and along the Wild Atlantic Way to Kilkee.
After lunch in the Diamond Rocks Café at the west end of Kilkee, we set off along the cliff walk, a three-mile loop that begins outside the cafe’s door around the cliffs and with spectacular sea views and scenery.
Later, we caught the tourist fun train outside the café and were brought on a tour through the town and along the horseshoe-shaped beach to the east end of the bay.
At the height of summer, Kilkee is a happy, joyful, family resort. The blue skies and the clue seas, with the sun sparking on the surface of the water brought me back to Greece last week.
It was late in the evening when we caught the ferry back from Killimer to Tarbert, and darkness was beginning to close in as the four of us sat down to dinner in the Rectory in Askeaton.
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