Wheels Around Europe . . . . . . . : Ireland

Showing posts with label Ireland. Show all posts

Sunday, 19 September 2021

Westport

Sunday 18th September 2021

We have enjoyed a day exploring the lovely town of Westport today in the warm (ish) sunshine.

Actually it was quite cool in the shade !

Anyway it was a great way to spend the day, first in the town itself, then later down by the quay.

Last night we had torrential rain for much of the night on Achill Island, but by this morning, the clouds had cleared and the sun was making a welcome appearance.

Westport town is a collection of brightly colored houses and shops with a river running through the centre and some attractive stone bridges all adorned with flowers. It's a very busy place with lots of pavement cafe bars and restaurants.

We also had a walk around the gardens of Westport House. A grand looking place, but currently undergoing renovations and covered in cranes, scaffolding and sheeting unfortunately. Some of the gardens are also barriered off but the parts open were worth the walk around.

So, all in all, an enjoyable day.

Well probably overnight on the quay as it seems to be permitted and it has a great view of Clew Bay.

Clew Bay is famous for the hundreds of small islands left by the retreating ice shelf after the last ice age.

They're called drumlins and I had the idea of kayaking around some but the weather is against me there, much too windy.

One of the islands was bought by John Lennon in the years before his assisination.

The local tale goes that he planned to live there. I've no idea how much truth there is in that but it makes a good story for the locals to repeat.

It not even that easy to see the islands from the shore, they've evaded me so far anyway. I'll try and find a viewpoint to get some photos.

I booked our return crossing for Wednesday, so we'll be making our way towards the port tomorrow.

In the meantime here's a selection of photos of Westport

Westport House grounds

Westport's wild swimmers !

Saturday, 18 September 2021

Achill Island

Saturday 17th September 2021

Blacksod Bay proved to be a great parkup, watching the sunset over the calm sea.

We woke to a lovely sunrise, sadly the weather didn't stay that way for long.

Soon clouds were forming and it wasn't long before the rain arrived.

Undeterred, we set off for Achill Island and drove to just about the furthest west it's possible to get to in Europe.

It's a little bay called Keem Bay.

It's a lovely bay with a sandy beach and hills rising right behind the carpark.

It's quite a busy place, even on a windy day, it stopped raining whilst we were there, but boy it was windy, so not really somewhere to overnight.

So we made our way to another parkup on Achill.

It's actually a B&B with a large carpark and a sideline in providing motorhome parking and a safe sanctuary from west Ireland's unpredictable weather.

It's not really scenic, but it has what's needed.

It looks like England is getting the best of the weather at the moment, but it's looking a bit dryer and brighter here tomorrow, fingers crossed.

Blacksod Bay sunrise

Keem Bay waterfall

Keem Bay

Friday, 17 September 2021

Downpatrick Head and Blacksod Lighthouse

Friday 17th September 2021

Wow it was wet 'n wild last night at Dunmoran beach parkup.

The wind blew a hooley most of the night with horizontal rain on and off.

By morning the wind had subsided, but the rain continued, with gloomy grey skies.

After breakfast we set off for Downpatrick Head and it wasn't long before the rain stopped and gaps began to appear in the cloud with bits of welcome blue and shafts of sunlight shining through.

By the time we reached Downpatrick Head it was glorious sunshine and I was so pleased to get some great photos of the sea stack in all it's glory.

It's a stunning location to wander around and there are curious plants growing in mounds where you would expect the grass to be. They must be very hardy given the thousands of sightseeing visitors the area gets.

After a bracing walk, lunch was very welcome and afterwards we set off for Blacksod on the Mullet Peninsula.

The main claim to fame of Blacksod and it's lighthouse is it was from here that the weather forecast came prior to the D-Day landings in 1944.

The Allies planned to start operations on 3rd June, and the Americans in particular were adamant that date should be stuck to.

However the lighthouse keepers wife, Maureen Sweeney, was responsible for maintaining weather records and notifying Dublin, who in turn were forwarding these to London.

When she identified a deep depression, this would make the landing too dangerous. She was asked to check calculations and when she confirmed they were correct, the landings were postponed until 6th June.

Maureen is now 98 and living in a care home locally.

This is a great spot for the night next to the lighthouse.

The evening has been spent watching the sea in Blacksod Bay.