Category Archives: Landscape

Galway Hooker Restoration with The Claddagh Boatmen

This week we spent a lovely evening learning about the restoration of Galway Hookers by the The Claddagh Boatmen (Bádóirí an Cladaig).

We took a boat trip from the Claddagh across the Corrib via the Mud Dock to the lay-by near the Galway Lifeboat Station. From there we went to Galway Ocean Sports Club to meet the Claddagh Boatmen and view the restoration project and learn about the Galway Hooker fleet.

Mud Dock Galway
During the session a question arose regarding the history of what is known as the Mud Dock. Rob Murphy kindly researched its origin..

On the 1651 map there is just a sea wall where the long walk is now, with no buildings after the Spanish Arch. On a 1747 map the mud dock is there, at the end of the sea wall, but the docks as we know it had not been built, so just a bay/swamp in that area. So there you have it, the mud dock was built between 1691 and 1747. The commercial docks was built in 1842, so the mud dock pre-dates it by between circa 100 to 150 years.

Pictures Speak Louder Than Words

You can visit The Claddagh Boatmen site here: www.claddaghboatmen.com

Station To Station – Non Attended Pump Photos

Occasionally on my travels I spot the odd piece of abandoned technology, be it an old vending machine or as in this case old petrol pumps. There is something about them that interests me. I think it is that at one point they were in constant everyday use, a focal point, something we needed to use to get on with our day. Now they stand there unnoticed and abandoned. I took these photos of old petrol pumps in the space of three weeks or there abouts. One in each of counties Wicklow, Offaly and Galway.

: Petrol Pump – Co Galway

: Petrol Pump – Co Offaly

: Petrol Pump – Co Wicklow

Spring Arrives In Galway

Spring has arrived and those dark days are behind us once again. Nothing shouts louder in our garden that spring is on its way than the daffodils that bloom each year around Saint Patrick’s day.