A slow start of the day. Jamaliah made fried rice for breakfast and the remaining croissants and cake was our desert. Around 14:00 we started our Irish adventure for good. Small winding roads and a few wrong turns brought us to the middle of the potato famine area (1847) of Strokestown. We were too late to visit the landowner’s mansion but the informative museum was open. During English occupation following Cromwell’s victory in 1684 much land was given to his English supporters. These landowners lent the land out to contractors who again lent it out to sub-contractors etc. In the end the parcels were so small that it was difficult to live off the small potato crop. On top of that a potato disease reduced the harvest even further. Over population, disease and hunger struck the whole country. One of the solutions was to support emigration to Canada. Many never made it that far…. This solved part of the problems of the landowners so they could sell their property and pay off the debts the family had accumulated over the generations by living beyond their means.
We camped on a small lake some 6 km out of town (Park4Night).
