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'The Gateway to Connemara'; Oughterard's chief claim to fame is a centre for game fishing. The town stands beside Lough Corrib, the second largest lake in Ireland and a mecca for fly-fisherman from Ireland and abroad. Some huge wild brown trout have been taken on this lake down the years, as well as specimens pike and salmon.
For the walker and cyclist there are many attractions as the 'real' Connemara opens out a few miles past Oughterard on the road to Clifden. The Ruins of Aughanure Castle, a stronghold of the O'Flahertys, are worth seeing: it has been much restored and is located in a beautiful setting over Lough Corrib. The O'Flahertys were the dominant Irish family in this part of County Galway for hundreds of years and carried out an on-going struggle with the Normans who controlled Galway; a motto 'from the ferocious O'Flahertys 'Good Lord deliver us' is attached to this period. The castle was one of those that protected Galway during the Cromwellian period.
There are many other local beauty spots, such as the Hill of Doon, and a golf course just outside the town on the Galway road.
Other towns of County Galway
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