Westport to Achill island part 1

And the last few pics taken in a little bay near Keel. Great views of the cliffs, a beautiful sandy beach and the mountains behind you. 

Dungarvan to Roche Point

Another day trip to the south of Ireland, we went from Dungarvan where we had left of to Roche Point which is close to Cork. It was a beautiful day and it was very quiet everywhere now that the holidays are over. Some great beaches, ports and towns. Ireland at it’s best (so far)

Balbriggan

We took advantage of the first sunny day in weeks to go up the coast a bit. We started of in Balbriggan which has a nice little harbor but not much else. We had a beer overlooking the harbor and the big bridge and then went to dinner in Skerries where there was a motorcycle meet.

Skerries

Skerries is just a short drive north of Malahide where we live. It is one of our favorite places to go to while away a few hours in the weekend. There is a large sandy beach in the south with great views over the various little islands and Rockabil lighthouse. In the north there is a more rocky beach with a little harbor that has some restaurants with great views.

Warrenpoint to Killough (Northern Ireland) Part 2

After Annalong we drove on to Newcastle which is a very unirish Victorian beach resort. It is dominated by the The Mournes mountains which are just behind it. J bought some detailed maps and routes of hikes for me in the tourist office.

Then we followed the coast and ended up in St John’s point where there is a beautiful lighthouse and the remnants of the old church or hermits house St John used to live in.

After a short stop in the lovely village of Killough we drove through the Mournes back home. En route we spotted a field full of sheep and lambs so we stopped there. All the sheep and lambs started running towards us…….and bleating at the top of their voices. It sounded like the ‘loudness of the sheep’ and we moved off quickly to continue our drive through the Mournes mountain range. Definately going hiking there when I am done with the Wicklows.

Loughshinny

Today was quite rainy but it cleared up in the afternoon so we did a quick trip to Loughshinny. It lays just to the north of Dublin between Rush and Skerries. It is a tiny little harbor next to a Martello Tower, these are dotted around the Irish coast and were build during the Napoleonic wars to detect French invaders.

J saw a couple of seals while I was off hiking the coastline, unfortunately no pictures of that.

Clifden to Westport

Today we continued our discovery of Ireland by taking off were we left off in county Galway and moving up to county Mayo. We drove to Clifden passing the Twelve Bens mountain range were we briefly stopped at an farmers auction were cows and sheep were sold. Apparently a bale of hay costs 2,50 euro in Ireland. The bales kept following us throughout the day (see the picture of the curragh with the bales in the bow)

Unfortunately the weather was very cloudy/foggy and hence the mountains that are the backdrop to practically everything weren’t very visible. We saw the only fjord in Ireland at Leenane and stopped at the Doo Lough were 400 people died during the famine. Last stop was Westport were there is a bay with loads of strangely formed Islands. But you have to climb Croagh Patrick mountain were St Patrick went on Pilgrimage.

We didn’t get to see everything and we past some of the sights so we need to go back and I have promised J to stop at the following places:

• Avoca shop (Letterfrack)
• The weird little island with the Saint statues just beyond the Avoca shop
• Kylemore abbey

Oranmore to Lehinch

This weekend we went from Oranmore to Lehinch on the west coast going south from Galway.We started of with a great old derelict house in Ardfry and then moved south along the coast until Lehinch. There were some nice old castles, nice Irish cottages until we hit Murroughkelly which is where the wild coast starts. Murroughkelly looked just like a lunar landscape.

Then we moved on to the Cliffs of Moher, they are certainly beautiful but somewhat diminished due to the all the tourists and the trappings that go with it. We ended the day in Lehinch which is the premier Irish surfing village and ate fish and chips while watching the die hard surfers in the sunset.

Arklow to Wexford(ish)

Wifey and I continued our discovery of the Irish coast today. We still had a gap between Arklow and Waterford. Unfortunately I slept a bit too late (again) so we couldn’t finish it entirely and had to turn back around Blackwater. 

It was a lovely day with mostly clear blue skies. Went too a lot of beaches and found some cool old ruins of a farm along the way. Nothing to dramatic in the sense of views here just some nice beaches and scenery as you would expect in Ireland.