Today (Thursday 21st August) gave me my first experience of the annual Clifden Pony Show, which lasts the entire week from Monday to Sunday.

I drove to the show with my American friend and after finding a spot to park in the horrendously busy town centre, we started walking towards the show ground through the main highstreet and its nose to tail traffic.

It was a strange mix of car fumes, horse boxes, running engines and whinnying, with a Hansel and Gretel style trail of horse dung on the pavement, aiding any lost souls in finding the entrance to the grounds.

Rain was threatening all day, but we somehow avoided a soaking. Weather is gauged on an hourly basis here, not per day! By this, I mean, when you wake in the morning and look outside the window, you learn not to make the schoolboy error of thinking, ‘oh, it’s blue sky so today will be a sunny day’. I have done this too many times already and gone for a day out wearing shorts and t-shirt, only to find an hour later, it’s hammering down with rain and practically blasting the shorts right off me with gale force winds. So, if you are planning a trip to Ireland, don’t bother looking at apps or weather forecasts. There honestly is no point. Just bring clothes for all eventualities or you’ll be caught out.

I digress. We arrived at the show and paid the €5 each to get in and generally just had fun walking around watching the displays and judging taking place, although I must point out I know nothing about horses. Women are much more enthralling to me, so it appealed when I discovered there was a “best dressed woman” award, to be presented to a spectator who was unsurprisingly, the best dressed. It was quite evident some women had really gone to town, determined to win the award (which I think also included €500 vouchers) wearing fancy hats and very elegant dresses. I made sure I was there when it counted, next to the anoraks with their binoculars and notepads who were looking in the opposite direction to me!

I took a few photos which I shall post below.

After all the excitement of the show, the American and I reconvened at a coffee shop then and drove to Ballyconeely to see the beautiful beaches around that area. After that, we went shopping at Aldi for the weeks supply of Guinness and edibles.

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