22- Ireland: Wild Things

We had heard so much about the Wild Atlantic Way over the last few years that we had it earmarked as a must do once we got settled back home. Sad state of affairs when we’ve seen so much of other countries but so little of Ireland. The Wild Atlantic Way is a wonderful feat of marketing- nobody built anything, nobody invent anything, someone just put a name on something that’s predominantly been there for hundreds and thousands of years. If you name it right, they will come! Everyone, including us, loves a catchy name. We were sold!

Taking advantage of the June bank holiday weekend, we set off on Saturday morning with Bundoran in County Donegal being our first destination. To get there, we went via Meath, Cavan and Fermanagh so managed to tick off Northern Ireland as a destination too! Thankfully no border crossings involved with the only way you’d know you’ve changed countries being the change in phone network and the change of road signs from kilometers to miles. We could handle those easily enough and made it to Bundoran for a picnic lunch.

We had lots of ground to cover so after walking around the beaches of Bundoran, we headed for Mullaghmore for more beautiful scenery. Gorgeous place and it certainly helped that the sun was blazing down on top of us. Made a huge difference and having a bright blue sky in our photos was a nice little bonus too. We got lucky so best to enjoy and take full advantage. Our next stop was to follow the signs South on the Wild Atlantic Way and head into WB Yeats County- Sligo.

I hadn’t been aware that this was what Sligo was known for. It didn’t take long to figure out though as his grave is on the way into the town and then once you get into the town there are murals, statues and quotes from him everywhere.

“There are no strangers here; Only friends you haven’t yet met.”

A friend (who we had met!) recommended to us to get the early bird in Eala bhan restaurant in Sligo. A super recommendation and really well priced. Sligo itself is a very lively town. Lots of bars and restaurants and its fair share of hen and stag parties on the streets, some more glamorous than others. The next morning, we headed to Strandill for breakfast before strapping on the walking shoes to trek up Knocknarea. A fine stroll to work off a fine breakfast. Super views from the top. One of us even broke out our finest yoga moves to celebrate her arrival at the peak- very impressive!

From there, we hopped back into the car and set off for Enniscrone- a place I hadn’t heard of until a few months ago. The town came to national attention via the Anton Savage radio show on Today FM as the story of the local undertaker who was planning on building a glamping site in the town caught national attention. The reason? As part of this site, he had a Boeing 767 plane from the Shannon Airport Authority- only issue was how he would get a Boeing 767 to Enniscrone from Shannon!? A 200km trip but many obstacles in between.

He walked the country through his various options one by one: he couldn’t fly it as there was nowhere to land in Enniscrone and the plane itself was out of service. He couldn’t put it on a trailer and go by road as in order to use the roads he would need to take down and put back up 20,000 electricity poles on route, otherwise he would knock them all down! He consdired using a blimp at one stage but the timing didn’t work out. So he settled on using a barge and going by the sea. So a 200 ton airplane, a very “big yoke” in the owners words, was landed on Enniscrone beach and now sits on a glamping site. This was something we had to see!

Once again, we were not disappointed, it’s absolutely outrageous! This guy must have the most tolerant neighbours in history. The plane is huge, definitely a big yoke and most definitely blocking the neighbours previously pristine view of the water! Amazing how much publicity he’s gotten. Big crowds there to see it and virtual gridlock in the town. We got there and they were having a birthday party for the plane- a cake and all. It was like a visit to the twilight zone. It’s likely the first and last time we’ll hear a crowd of people singing Happy Birthday to a plane!

After that, our next move could only be towards a bit of normality. Thankfully it also upped the standard of the musical contributions to the weekend as that night in Westport we visited Matt Molloys pub for a good old trad session. Super fun and an electric atmosphere.

The next morning we set off to do the Greenway cycle. There’s a company that will drive you to Achill Island and then you can rent bikes to cycle back. Some spectacular scenery along the way and well worth doing. We had timed it correctly for the time of year so we got a see piles of turf along the way. Backbreaking work I’d say but made for lovely photos for me!

The whole trail is such a simple idea but really effective and a lovely day out. They even have parts of the cycle track all decked out in the Mayo colours. How very parochial! Half way along the route we stopped for lunch. We hadn’t brought any cash with us and when we asked do they take credit card we weren’t surprised to be told no. However rather than leave us go hungry, they asked us which way we were cycling? When we told them they said not a bother and they’d give us a little envelope to put our money in and we could drop it off in Foleys garage in the next town. Easy as! The Irish Cead Mile Failte is alive and well. Scones and black puddings never tasted so sweet!

We had a lovely few days and it was great to see parts of the country that we’d never been to before. Galway, Dublin, Kerry and Cork are all regular stopping points for us so great to expand our horizons. Defintily worth doing and got us excited to investigate other parts of the country. When the shines like it did for us, there’s nowhere we’d rather be.

Click here to see a selection of photos from our Wild Atlantic Way trip

Route

Dublin to Bundoran, Bundoran to Sligo, Sligo to Westport, Westport to Dublin