Achill Island

Two weekends ago I took a trip north to county Mayo, specifically Mulranny and Achill Island. I didn’t get up to Mulranny where I was staying until late that night, so Friday I slept in a little bit and ended up having a huge fry breakfast in the morning after seeing the sights around Mulranny. The weather was gorgeous on Saturday so luckily we took the opportunity to have a little road trip all around Achill Island, which happens to be the largest island off the coast of Ireland. I would immensely recommend a tour around here if you’re ever in Ireland, because the drive itself is gorgeous. The picture above here is located in Doogort, which has a nice beach and a lovely little hotel right on the water. There was actually a wedding there when we were driving through.

The scenery included several gorgeous beaches, including the one directly above here, lots of sheep, and copious amounts of green. The island was relatively quiet as I don’t think tourist season has really kicked in at all, so it was kind of nice to have a very calm day driving around. Along our drive there was an old IRA pub that I would have loved to go have a pint in, but unfortunately it was closed. During the spring/summer there’s a lot of room to go camping and spend time outside though so hopefully I can make it back over to Achill Island at some point soon!

On the way back we stopped by a country little pub pretty much on the side of the road, called Compass where I was literally the only lady in the whole pub besides the bartender, which I thought was pretty fun. Then instead of going out to dinner a three-course feast was prepared, including bruschetta, thick rib-eye steaks, potatoes, grilled onions, Bulmer’s, and ice cream with smarties on top. Needless to say this was delicious and might have been one of my favorite parts of the weekend. The next morning however the weather took a bit of a down turn, so I slept in for quite a while, then we heading back towards Galway, stopping through some towns on the way home.

On the way home, we stopped off first at the County Mayo Sailing Club, which was really interesting to see. There I saw where an old British Coast Guard station was, and was able to climb to the top of the place and get a wonderful view of all the islands around county Mayo. I also fed a couple of donkeys and saw some amazing sailboats that are specific to each part of Ireland. After that we stopped by Croagh Patrick which I definitely hope to climb some day soon. The scenery there was gorgeous and it was nice to be able to get out and walk around at the base of the mountain. Across the road from the mountain base is also the potato famine memorial, as seen in the pictures of the skeleton ship, which was remarkable. As soon as I walked on site there you can just feel the history and realize it’s impossible to understand what the people of Ireland went through during this time, and how it still affects them today. Even though it brought down the light heartedness of trip for a little bit, I’m still very happy that I went and saw it. Our last stop off before heading back home was to Westport, which I definitely NEED to go back to. The place was seriously gorgeous and I’ve heard that the nightlife there is really fun. The last two pictures in the bunch are from there and luckily when my dad comes he’s showed some interest in going there as well.