Lough na Fuaidhe -lake of phantoms by sandra Bunting

Lough Na Fuaidhe (Fooey) Lake of Phantoms

The West of Ireland, notably Connemara, still offers the same wild, lonesome landscape that has fed the soul of many a visitor over the years. Lough na Fuaide, near the Mayo border in Joyce’s Country, has all the elements to give the spirit a needed boost.
Driving up the turn off from the main road you suddenly feel you are moving towards the end of the world, as if the road continued on to nowhere or up to the sky. Sheep, painted in psychedelic colours to show ownership. They will not be stopped from crossing to better grazing on the other side of the road by a mere car.
From the top of the hill It is hard to decide which way to look as each direction holds something spectacular and almost prehistoric. Looking down is the Lough itself with its deep water full of pike. You could easily imagine it being the playground of plesiosaurs. Beyond the expanse of water rise the hills of Mayo.
To one side streams flow beneath gorged out cliffs. To the other, rusty tears stream down the faces of slumbering giants, those ancient hills. Turning to look back, there are even more mountains. You are surrounded, cut off.
There is a road around the lake leading to isolated farm houses gripping the side of the hills, bungalows most of them, built beside roofless cottages abandoned to sheep. We chose the road leading down to the Lake itself so we could walk A bit. Surprizingly, there is a narrow beach made up of a coarse reddish sand. A few brightly coloured boats lay upside down on the shore.
A wind blew. Shivering, I turned my back to the water to notice a mist or cloud cover getting heavier and lower so that the tops of the closest hills were no longer visible. I was there in January when the land was particularly bleak but not without its magic. I could imagine Spring and the vibrant yellow of furze, the soft heather tones and the bare, twisted hawthorn tree in bloom. Then a thick black curtain began to slide closer over the hills and large drops of primeval rain descended making us look forward to that hot whisky at Keanes pub in Maam.
You can sit beside the turf fire in the pub listen to the Irish language coming from behind the bar or watch a stooped old man and his granddaughter visiting from the city. There will be the mandatory comment about the weather, in this cas e cold.
Coming from Galway City, go through Moycullen, the trout-fishing town of Oughterard and on to Maam Cross (Teach Doite - Burnt House) Turn right at Peacock’s bar and restaurant, right at Keane’s Pub in Maam and then take the first left to Lough Na Fuaidhe. There is a sweater shop located at the turn.
At the lake you take a last look.. The enormity of the mountains makes you focus. It’s as if the big questions of life are taken care of. You feel
free to wonder about the small things in life. Why was a Wellington boot placed upturned over a fence post outside Oughterard, and would it still be there on the way back?