on august 6th 2024, i realised a long-held ambition to visit tourmakeady, county mayo on the west coast of ireland as this was the place where robert spent the last few years of his life from 1971-1978 and a place he loved so much.

we visited his memorial stone on the shore of lough mask which was commissioned by the locals in 2008 to honour their famous resident who gave so much to the local community when he lived there.

A short trip down the road was drimbawn house, his beautiful home on the lake shore with stunning grounds and on the day we went, two bemused llamas grazing in the garden!

finally we visited the famous Paddy's pub, which was robert's local and which has stunning views of lough mask. he could often be found serving behind the bar but Sadly it was closed on the day of our visit.

it truly is a stunning part of the world and is part of the irish-speaking Gaeltacht community.

you can truly feel his presence and it's well worth a visit.

requiescat in pace


joe