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Making Merry in Kinvara
By Malcolm Rogers
Malcolm Rogers sets out west to stay at the Merriman Hotel in Kinvara in Co. Galway.
The Merriman Hotel in Kinvara is already booked out for the local Cuckoo Festival.
And recently you’d have found it tough to get a room, as 26 Danish people descended on the town — complete with musical instruments — to stage impromptu concerts in the village. It’s that sort of place.
Manager of the hotel Terence Egan explained to me that the hotel provides a huge variety of weekend breaks, ranging from springtime sprees to Halloween holidays.
“Kinvara is one of the most picturesque villages in Ireland — but there’s a lot more than just views. If you’re into golf we can come up with a package which will get you to Gort for a few rounds — and we’ll include a couple of dinners as well.”
But of course, many of you may already know the definition of golf — “a good walk spoilt”. So you may prefer to junk the clubs and head for the hills instead.
The Merriman Hotel is right on the Clare border, and Clare means one thing to the discerning walker — the Burren. Terence will provide everything you need for a tour of the Burren, including a guide.
“We use this young lad who lives locally, John A. Connolly. He has a terrific knowledge of the Burren, all the plants, the geology — he even has a degree in Irish heritage.”
The package includes two guided walks on this very strange landscape, dinner on one evening, two nights bed and breakfast, as well as packed lunches for the trek across the limestone wilderness.
Various other packages are offered throughout the year, including health and wellness breaks and festival breaks (Kinvara has two locally, and just about every other town in Galway and Clare boasts at least one).
And just in case you’re already looking forward to next autumn or winter — the Merriman stays open the whole year round.
Accommodating person
It’s not surprising that Terence Egan would be a first class hotelier, as it’s sort of bred in the bone. His family ran Dooley’s Hotel in Birr (where the young Egan was brought up) and naturally enough Terence entered the business.
Since those early days Terence has travelled the world honing his craft,and is now happy to make the Merriman his life’s work.
And there’s no mystery as to why anyone would find this a satisfying job. Situated on Main Street, the hotel boasts Ireland’s biggest thatched roof.
Named after the famous 18th century poet, the hotel is three star and has absolutely stunning views across Galway Bay. Friendly staff, a first class restaurant, and traditional music in the bar are all part of the service.
The night I was there, my companion and I had just finished a bar dinner (terrific salmon, followed by pancakes) and had settled down with a few Hennessys when a local gentleman approached our table, and asked if we minded if he joined us. “Of course not,” my friend said, “we’d love the company.”
Thus encouraged, our new friend — a man in his sixties — sat down and asked us if we’d care for a song. It’s that sort of a place. So our new friend launched into The Green Glens of Antrim, in a fine tenor voice.
We duly applauded this effort — as indeed did the other few people in the bar. He then informed us that he’d performed that very number in the Albert Hall away back in the 1960s — but didn’t elucidate further on the details. “Ye have a bit of an up country accent yourself,” he said to me. “D’ye know the Glens?”
I duly told him that both my parents were buried in Antrim, which caused an outpouring of such emotion that further Hennessys were called for, more songs were sung, and the problems of the world melted and seemed as insubstantial as a Galway sea mist.
A brief history
As is the case with all ancient villages in Ireland, the history of Kinvara can be read in the fabric of the buildings.
Dungaire Castle, a mile outside the town to the north, was built by Ruairí Mór O’Shaughnessy in the early 1500s. So picturesque it might have appeared in Finian’s Rainbow, the castle eventually passed into Anglo-Norman hands and thence to Shannon Development (several centuries later, mind) who now hold mediaeval banquets there.
The ever resourceful Terence Egan can provide you with a package which includes a two night stay at the Merriman plus an evening’s banqueting at Dungaire. But I dare say, you’d already guessed that.
You can stroll to the castle from the village and on the sea shore you’ll pass curlews, redshanks, oyster catchers, snipe — and, out in the bay, swans flying off towards the Atlantic.
If you have by this time stopped singing “. . . . you can sit and watch the moon rise over Claddagh, and watch the sun go down on Galway Bay,” you might, at this stage, want to ponder on the poet Brian Merriman.
Born in west Co. Clare probably about 1745, his celebrated poem Cúirt an Mheán-Oíche, or The Midnight Court, is his main claim to fame. You may want to ponder on Brian’s use of acentual metre and phonetic verse pattern — and then again, perhaps not.
I asked Terence what his favourite part of the poem was, and he found it difficult to choose between the monstrous female envoy from the fairies, or when the poet Aoibheall is being severely chastised by the women of the court.
As I said, it’s that kind of place.
Festivals and the like
“Fleadh na gCuach”, which, you will not need reminding means Cuckoo Festival, takes place every May Bank Holiday weekend and features the very best of traditional music — there’s plenty of it round these parts.
“Cruinniú na mBád”, meaning Gathering of the Boats, is usually held in the second week of August. This is a regatta with music, craic, dance and song added. Imagine the Henley Regatta if it was organised by Shane MacGowan and you might begin to get the picture.
Hookers of all size begin arriving in the harbour from early summer — and come in four sizes ranging from the Bád Mór (Big Boat) at 40 feet, to the tiny púcan, not much bigger than a sailing dinghy.
Oh, and there’s an added oddity in Kinvara — seaweed racing. This fairly obscure sport consists of floating nests of seaweed (each known as a climín) being manned by two or three oarsmen and, University Boat Race style, racing each other. The sport has grown out of the use of climíns to bring the seaweed ashore for use as fertiliser. Which probably gives it a longer pedigree than Oxford v. Cambridge.
The salty sea breezes will inevitably make you thirsty, and fortunately help is at hand: Green’s, Tully’s, The Old Plaid Shawl, Brogan’s or Winkle’s — to name only a few of Kinvara’s drinking establishments — are all crowded along the main street and town square, or around the harbour. Water, water everywhere, and quite a lot to drink.
Even on a Tuesday night in November the music and craic is going full throttle, and there’s also a singer-songwriting night in Winkle’s mid-week. Indeed, you might even bump into John Prine, the US singer-songwriter (of “City of New Orleans” fame) who lives in the area. He once described Kinvara as “a drinking village with a fishing problem.”
Essential contacts
Kinvara is the southern end of Galway Bay, some 30 minutes driving time south of Galway City and about an hour’s drive from Knock Airport.
The Merriman Hotel
Tel: 00 353 91 638 222
Specials at the minute include 2 nights bed & breakfast, dinner on one night — ›125 per person (£85 per person)
For East Galway details phone Karen Smyth at Galway East Tourism on:
Tel: 00 353 91 850 687;
e-mail: info@galwayeast.com; website:
www.galwayeast.com.
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