A day on Achill Island

Achill Island is the largest island off the coast of Ireland and is less than an hour's drive from where we're staying near Westport in County Mayo.  I've heard a lot about Achill Island over the years from my friend Tania - whose family has stayed here for holidays over many years. I knew it must be a special place - from the many art works Tania has made of Achill's spectacular land and sea forms and because of the special connection she has for the place. 

It's definitely a large island but it seems remote, still quite agricultural - and very few tourists - today anyway, lucky for us. We also struck it lucky with the weather, no rain while we were on Achill and even some sunny blue skies. 

We crossed the small bridge over to the island at Achill Sound and turned south down a narrow rough road, following along the edge of the Sound through Derreen and then on to Cloughmore at the southern most point of the island.

There wasn't any settlement near the road at Cloughmore but there was this amazing vista ahead of us .............

That is Clare Island in the far distance.

This precise spot near the road at Cloughmore was used as the location for the fictional pub - J. J. Devine Public House in the "Banshees of Inisherin" movie we all went to see last year - the setting for many of the movie's dramatic scenes. The pub was purpose built for the movie (set in the early 1920s) and then demolished after filming had concluded (disappointingly).

At this same spot there is a memorial with the words: "A tribute to the Achill women who coped with loneliness and hardship in the absence of their menfolk who were forced to emigrate to provide for their families" - a reminder that while Achill is a beautiful place to be enjoyed by everyone now in earlier times it was a very harsh and unforgiving place to live for people who were poor and had few resources.

Further on we came to the so called White Cliffs of Ashleam on Portnahally Bay.

At Portnahally Bay we're looking back towards Achill Sound in the distance and  Cnoc an Chorráin (mountain - 524m high) behind that.

We stopped for coffee at Beehive (Crafts and Gifts) at Keel Bay and came across our first sighting of visitors to the island (like us). There were sheep everywhere today including on all the roads. The lambs were jumpy and unpredictable, making it slow going for us in the car - we did not want to hit any of them. The Beehive customers got a thrill out of this little mob that wandered through the village at morning tea time.

Here we were approaching the village of Dooagh with its spectacular setting facing out to the North Atlantic Ocean.

Dooagh appeared to be the largest village we came across on the island today - but unfortunately some of the recommended haunts of Tania's family (e.g. Lordies Pub and Gielty's Clew Bay) weren't open today - so lunch plans had to change!

We drove on, along one of the most spectacular roads on the island - a winding road heading towards Keem Bay that has been cut into the craggy slopes of Croaghaun, the highest mountain on the island.

Looking back towards Dooagh where we've just driven from - you can see traces of the peat trenches that have been dug all over the island over the centuries of human habitation. Walking on this grass gave us a great introduction to the geology of peat habitat - it's very wet and boggy (but not muddy) and any visible soil looks very black, dense and rich.

At this point we are approaching the end of the road on this side of the island - and beautiful Keem Bay (with sheep).

This view takes your breath away.

That's Croaghaun behind Rob in the pic below with its summit obscured by cloud. At 688 metres it has the highest sea cliffs in Ireland but unfortunately you can only see them by boat or by climbing the actual mountain.

We drove back to Beehive at Keel for a late lunch. I thought my lunch - locally caught Atlantic salmon and salad - was just fabulous.

With the sun rapidly disappearing we made one last stop at Doogort Beach on the northern side of the island - another beautiful spot That's Slievemore (672 metres high) in the background, Achill's second highest mountain. 

As well as sheep these purple wild growing rhododendrons were growing all over the island - forming hedges, but also just running wild at the edge of roads and all over the fields. While they look glorious in flower apparently they are causing some concern for the locals because they are "taking over" like a true weed!

I have some regrets taking this photo because in the process I brushed against some stinging nettles.I still have an unpleasant burning sensation in my ankles a few hours later!

We left Achill after a wonderful day appreciating its stunning beauty, enjoying its bounty and learning something of its past. I will enjoy sharing the experience with Tania in every detail. 

It started raining, heavily, soon after we crossed the bridge from Achill and stayed raining for the rest of the afternoon. We were so lucky with our timing seeing the island when we did.