Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
tion of travel solely for enjoyment) didn't exist until the Victorian Age. Before that time,
travel was a chore only endured by armies, refugees, traders, emigrants, and religious pil-
grims.
Cong (from
conga,
Irish for “isthmus”) lies between two large lakes. Departing Cong
over the same bridge on which you entered, try to imagine the dry canal that once existed
here. Built between 1848 and 1854, this canal was a Great Potato Famine work project that
stoked only appetites. The canal, complete with locks, would have linked Lough Mask to
the north with Lough Corrib to the south. But the limestone bedrock proved too porous,
and the canal wouldn't hold water.
• Take R-345 out of Cong (left turn opposite the main stone gateway to the grounds of
Ashford Castle). Heading north, you'll pass through the tiny hamlet of...
About 135 years ago, a retired army captain named Boycott was hired to manage the
nearby estate of Lord Erne. But the strict captain treated the tenants who worked his lands
harshly, so they united to ostracize him by deserting their jobs and isolating his estate.
