The Mullet Peninsula and Downpatrick Head – Wild Atlantic Way continued

Previous days:A RETURN TO IRELAND’S WILD ATLANTIC WAYThe Aran Islands – INISHMOR AND DUN AONGHASA FORTACHILL ISLAND AND MORE WILD ATLANTIC WAY TRAVELS

Day 5 : Said goodbye at breakfast to the two ladies, who were heading south to Galway. Another fine breakfast at the hostel, settled up ( I think it was 120 euros per night) got the car packed again and headed off.

Before leaving Achill however, we were keen to drive the remainder of the Atlantic Drive which took us along the coast towards the White Cliffs of Ashleam and Cloughmore.

The winding road was ultra quiet and after a couple of stops to enjoy the sea views, we arrived at Grace O’Malley’s Towerhouse at Kildavnet.An interesting stop, Grace /Granuaile herself was a renowned sea captain and pirate in the late 16^th / early 17 th century and is now buried on Clare Island.The Towerhouse guarded the sea link between Achill Sound and Blacksod Bay(where we were now headed), well placed indeed.

Back over the Achill Sound bridge and we now had just over an hour’s drive to Belmullet, the main town before the Mullet Peninsula.Our route took us through the Wild Nephin National Park where we stopped for tea and cake at the Ballycroy Visitor Centre.

What a greeting from the chap on reception! A huge enthusiast, he noticed my accent when I said hello and welcomed me ‘ as a fellow Celt.’ No argument with that🙂 Had a good chat with him about the area and what was actually a beautiful, airy building, with views over the moorland towards the coast and the Nephin Beag hills behind.

Got a good cuppa in the upstairs café with a piece of excellent Chocolate Orange cake, a cake I know well as I make it quite often at home.It’s a Nigella recipe consisting of a boiled whole orange (skin and all) , this is then whizzed in a food processor to pulp, then mixed with a lot of ground almonds , flour , butter and sugar and topped with good dark chocolate once baked.It’s a really moist orangey cake, really lovely and I was delighted to find it on offer here.In fact, it was my favourite bake of the trip! Simone had been checking out the information displays about the bog landscape and joined me for a coffee. Got chatting to the couple who ran the café, escapees from( I think they said)  the south of England who had lived in the West of Ireland for many years now.

There were various walking trails but we decided to push on. An easy, uneventful drive took us to Belmullet, a small town where I spied Talbot’s Bar, our proposed venue for dinner tonight.The mist lay quite low over the landscape as Simone put Dun na mBo into the Garmin, a sea stack and blowhole which was a short drive away on the coast.

What a faff we then got into, trying to find it! Somehow I missed a left turn and fifteen minutes later, we found ourselves almost back to where we’d started. In places , we could barely see 20m ahead, the sea fog was so thick, so trying to get an overall view of everything was impossible.The SatNav was struggling and we lost confidence in it but thankfully, a signpost appeared suddenly, directing us down the correct road.

No actual parking, just a case of pulling in off the road where you could, without blocking anyone else. It was well worth the bit of effort to get here and there was an interesting metal sculpture which acted as a viewing area and platform.It allowed us to look WAY down beyond the pretty sea thrift which ringed the hole, to the surging ocean below. There was originally an ancient fort here but no sign of it now.

A wander outside the viewing platform to the grassy headland,  gave a vista onto the small sea stack itself, lashed by the surf. Sadly, the rest of the coast was completely invisible, as I’m sure it would have been a fine sight.But that sea fret plus general low cloud, was just hanging on in there. 

 Initially, we’d hoped to stay overnight down at Blacksod but we could only get a place which required a two night stay, so that idea was abandoned.The only other option which appealed and put us where we wanted to be next, was a good 90 mins or so away at Ross Beach near Killala so we always had in mind that we had a fair way to go today.

Drove further down the peninsula, stopping first at Elly Bay where I got a carry out tea and Simone had some much needed coffee from her flask.I’m sure it would have been a nice spot in better weather!

After the wee break, we continued down towards Aughleam where there was a small car park and another beach which we fancied seeing. Donning waterproofs, it was great to finally head out for a walk along the empty sands, the tide well out.I could spend all day pottering about on a beach, in any weather, beach combing , picking up pretty shells, the surf crashing gently on the sand.I love the sea.

For some reason, our conversation had moved onto oysters and incredibly, at that point, we actually found three oysters washed up on the shore, still clinging to rocks.

Simone had a small knife and we made an ineffective attempt at shucking them but to no avail.In fact, we were in danger of slicing open our hands more than the oysters. Not an easy task, shucking an oyster! That said, I doubt we would have eaten them, even if we’d got them open,  as there was no telling how long they had been washed up and there’s no point in ever taking any risks with shellfish.But it was good fun while it lasted!

Deirbhile’s Twist was next on our must see list, way down near Blacksod at the very southern tip of the Mullet Peninsula.It’s part of the North Mayo sculpture trail and consists of large granite blocks, raised from the moorland and placed in a gradually winding circle, like ancient standing stones.We both thought it was really well done and added something special to the landscape, which man made things these days rarely do.

Not any views from here as such today, but despite the mist and low cloud it looked like a lovely, lonely area and  very atmospheric in these conditions.A very worthwhile stop.

The plan was to eat early at Talbot’s in Belmullet and despite it being a busy Saturday night, we luckily got a table.The pub was full of local women( very few men) clearly out on the town for a good night out, dressed and made up to the nines, in stark contrast to the two waifs who’d staggered in looking windswept and bedraggled ( rather than interesting.) The well dressed ladies at the next table had left by the time I’d taken this photo, moving on to pastures new.

Simone went for a seafood platter while I had a starter of Nachos then a Chicken Caesar Salad.

I can’t say this was the best food of the trip, in fact it was quite disappointing overall.A big lump of deep fried fish was part of the platter as was a fish cake- never seen that before.There were dip accompaniments too which were really unpleasant in taste.My nachos were very scantily dressed with cheese and not sure what the cream topping was as it didn’t taste like sour cream.The photo makes it look a lot better than it actually tasted.Odd flavours.Ah well, it filled a space but didn’t live up to the good reviews we’d read.Maybe it was an off night.

One last stop was planned before we reached our accommodation…Dun Briste sea stack at Downpatrick Head.The rain had eased and the cloud had lifted, so it was a fine short walk out to the cliffs from the car park.

An impressively wild spot with, once again, the grass carpeted in pink sea thrift, really beautiful.

Quite a few other folks about , admiring the 45 metre high stack.There was also another blowhole with a viewing platform.These blowholes actually give me the heebie-jeebies, with the sea surging in against the rock walls below.They trigger my vertigo a bit and that inherent fear of falling in somewhere and not being able to get out.

Walked round the headland to where a lot of people were gathered, fishing from quite a height.Curious, I wandered round and saw that they had caught huge bucketloads of Mackerel(one of my favourite fish to eat.)They all appeared to be East European from their accents and seemed wary of speaking to me, initially.I really thought the stances that some of the men took as they fished, looked precarious to say the least.Mackerel must come into Ireland’s waters earlier than we get them as I associate them with July and August in our seas.

A short 20 min or so drive found us pulling into the driveway of Ross Beach Farmhouse, a lovely, spacious modern house sitting largely on its own.It was immaculate, super clean and our twin room was really spacious and comfortable.The whole place was ultra quiet.No kettle in the room unfortunately, something I always hope for as I like my endless cups of tea but it was a quick nip down to the dining room, where you could help yourself to boiling water and mugs.Relief! 
Wandered out for a short walk to the beach then finally we called it a day.It seemed a long time since we’d left Achill Island!

Next day was our second last (though little did we know then it would be our last) and Rosserk Abbey and Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery was on the agenda, as well as a climb up Knocknarea and a visit to Drumcliff to see Yeats’ grave. 

Next and Final Day:Mayo, Sligo and terrible news