The next stop in Ireland was Sligo, or "Yeats Country"

The sites we visited in and around Sligo are listed in pink at left. 

Click on them for more information and pictures.

In 2003, for the Sligo part of our journey we stayed at the wonderful Benwisken Centre.  We had the whole center to ourselves, which included the kitchen, dining area, a large room with a fireplace, and our rooms.  We had four people in my room...two beds and a bunk bed.  There are also laundry facilities here; if you split the cost with your roommates it will only cost you about €1 to wash and dry a load.  The people who run the center actually do the laundry for you, so you won't have to worry about switching the loads or anything. 

A couple of nights we all chipped in and cooked a large dinner all together, which was really nice.  The center is really clean and much better than we imagined when we heard we were staying in a hostel.  One thing to know is that the phone is outside, in a phone booth, and there is only that one.  So, seeing that a lot of people may be wanting to use this phone, and around the same times, be courteous and make it short.  You'll have phones in your room again in Dublin.  And, another good thing to have with you is a travel alarm clock, because this place doesn't have them and in other hotels that did have them, they didn't work!

The only thing we had a problem with at Benwisken was the showers.  Since there were 3 to 4 of us in a room, we ran out of hot water.  So, some may want to plan to shower before bed and a few in the morning, so no one gets stuck with a cold shower.  I'd also highly suggest you do laundry here because it's the only place you will actually have to do laundry in a washing machine. This is about the half way point of the trip, so you will be good to go as far as clothes if you wash them all now.  I brought along washing soap and did my smaller things in the sink, like socks, under garments, and t-shirts.  Do your jeans, sweatshirts and stuff here in the machines.

One day, Alicia, Deanna and I went exploring around the Benwisken Center.  It's pretty much out in the middle of nowhere, but it's really pretty.  Benwisken mountain is seen from the road, and there were unbelievable flowers all over the place.  We also went exploring in a derelict old house down the road.  Nothing exciting really, except and old bicycle, which was worthy of a photograph.   The Benwisken Center was great; we were all a bit skeptical at first, but really it couldn't have been a better place to stay.