Connemara Mollie

Connemara Mollie - Holiday reads and travel literature by Hilary Bradt about her riding adventures in western Ireland with Mollie, her equine partner. Covering routes in Counties Galway, Mayo, Kerry and Clare, Bradt recounts encounters with local people, beautiful landscapes, wildlife and rural history, and tragic events along the way.

---

An account of a journey through western Ireland made in 1984, fulfilling a childhood dream of a long-distance ride. The story centres on the growing bond between the author and her Connemara pony, Mollie and the many challenges that they face before the tragic conclusion in the mountains of Kerry. It is also a portrait of rural Ireland before the "Celtic Tiger" era, built up from conversations with the local people. The journey takes them through Counties Galway, Mayo, Clare and Kerry, the obstacles to their progress ranging from bogs, stone walls, and the River Shannon. "I've never tried hitchhiking with a horse before" comments the author. "It's not easy." She travelled with no set route, extending her backpacking knowledge acquired in the Andes to horse packing, "seeing the obvious advantage of climbing mountains on someone else's legs and using another's back for the packing."