Walk on the water…

From the Connemara mountains, dotted with hundreds of black-water lakes, to the cliffs of Achill Island, passing through Ireland’s largest fjord, this 6th part brings us closer to the north of Ireland and takes us from Galway to County Mayo, just before the wild northwest…

Culture…

There are names like that, which evoke cities of culture, where music fills the streets and where every corner is full of anecdotes, famous people, or historical facts… Galway is Ireland’s second largest city and… doesn’t really match the image we have of it (or at least, the image I had of it, perhaps)… Far from a large monumental city, it only takes about an hour to tour the most touristy parts of the city, and one even wonders if some were just added to the list ironically (the Spanish Arch, for example, to name just one). So yes, we came across a few street musicians, yes it was pleasant to stroll through the parks and streets of Galway’s Latin Quarter under a beautiful May sun, but if it wasn’t for the excellent oysters and clams and the no less excellent fish & chips that we ate at the King’s Head, accompanied by the famous house red beer, we would probably have been left a little hungry (oh the bad pun!… 😜).

We did learn, though, that there were once wild salmons in Galway, swimming up the Corrib, one of Europe’s shortest rivers, only 6 km long, and that permanent traps were installed to catch them as they passed through (they have since been removed, but the structures remain in the middle of the water, like the pillars of a bridge that would have lost its deck). It is even said that you can see a few grey seals swimming up the river at high tide, chasing a few fish that reappear in the clear waters of the Corrib. Apart from this?… Not much, really…

Speechless…

Some speak of “land scorched by the wind, moors of stones…” (yes, okay, only the French will understand the reference, but still…). In the series of mythical lands (and not just because of Michel Sardou’s songs), Connemara ranks rather high. But what is so special about these half-flooded lands that they capture our imagination so much? … After the best cinnamon bun we’ve had so far in Ireland, fresh from the oven at the great Sullivan’s Country Grocer, owned by Liz Folgen and Sianail Sullivan, it’s a few kilometres north, around a bend, that we found the answer, when we were left speechless by the immensity of a valley that could have come straight from Colorado or Montana. The “great American landscapes” aspect of Connemara is undeniable, and the omnipresence of water, through hundreds of deep blue lakes, some no bigger than a pond, further reinforces this impression of grandeur. Sheep with black heads and legs quietly follow the few narrow roads that wind between the peat bogs and, seen from above, the landscapes of Connemara resemble a lacework whose holes would have been filled with water, more and more numerous, until they reach the coast where the ocean finally takes over the mountains from the North. Because yes, the northern part of the region is completely different, with larger lakes nestled between the mountains and surrounded by tall conifer trees… Connemara truly lives up to its reputation, and we could have spend hours contemplating these immense landscapes where nature seems to reign supreme. Perhaps that’s what makes the difference… Unlike the rest of the country, where every square meter is used (and often fenced off or built upon), here, one can travel for miles without encountering a living soul (apart from sheep, obviously… but do sheep have souls? 🤓).

We loved Connemara’s landscapes so much that we decided to spend two nights there, but in two different places. After a first night in the “upper” part, at the foot of the mountains, surrounded by a huge peat bog, we spent a second night on the coast, in a spot recommended to us by a very nice local (thanks Kari! 😉). And the coast didn’t disappoint us either, with its large white sand beaches and turquoise waters. In just a few meters, the shore go from the soft green of the flowery meadows to the immaculate white of the sand and the different tones of water so crystal clear that one could easily believe this is the Caribbean (especially with the weather we are lucky to have these days…). In short, we were blown away by the landscapes of Connemara, and we will take our time going a little further north tomorrow, just to enjoy this region a little more…

Even better than Moïses!…

One last little loop in the Connemara to reach Omey Island, a tiny island located about 300 meters from the shore. Omey Island has the particularity of being accessible only at low tide, since it’s not connected to the mainland by any bridge or ferry otherwise. So, obviously, the opportunity was too good to pass up!… Marvin played Moses, the waters parted, and we were able to peacefully cross over the sand to reach Omey Island (before crossing back in the other direction 2 minutes later because… there’s not much to see, actually, on Omey Island… 😜).

After this “biblical” moment, we continued our journey north, following the coast as closely as possible. We went up the largest fjord in Ireland (the same one we had already seen two days ago), and then we followed it again in the other direction on the other bank, but the big difference was that this time we were in County Mayo (and no longer in County Galway)!

On both sides, we were, once again, speechless before the magnificent landscapes of Connemara, and even if the view of Croagh Patrick in the distance, on the other side (the sacred mountain of the Irish, with its almost perfectly conical shape) motivated us a little to go further north, we still preferred to stay a little longer at the foot of the mountains, between a small lake and a large white sand beach, for one last night in Connemara…

Achill’s Heel…

Well, it’s been a while since we’ve skirted a peninsula and… we were starting to miss it. So today, we made a double win! After skirting the coast and the pseudo-peninsula that precedes it, we crossed Achill Sound to reach the island of the same name (that’s Achill Island)! Well, this time there was a bridge… So, it was less of an “adventure” than Omey Island… 🤓

Achill Island is the largest island in Ireland, with an area of ​​148 km². Its mountainous landscapes, its vertiginous cliffs (the 3rd highest in Europe) and its idyllic beaches with a Caribbean feel have inspired many artists (including the painter Paul Henry, who lived on the island for 10 years), and it is also on Achill that the film “The Banshees of Inisherin” (by Martin McDonagh, with Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson) was filmed in 2022. It is the south coast of the island that we traveled today, including the “small” cliffs of Cloughmore (where part of McDonagh’s film was filmed), the “bigger” white cliffs of Ashleam and the pretty postcard beach of Keem (where part of McDonagh’s film was also filmed), at the very end of the island (that is to say, in what we could call… Achill’s heel! 🤣). Our goal today was just to get to the end of the island to take advantage of tomorrow morning’s cooler air to hike to the “very large” Croaghaun cliffs (inaccessible by car). So, we settled very close to Lough Accorrymore, a small lake on the mountainside with a breathtaking view of the entire plain and Dooagh Bay, just in front of us. Tomorrow morning, we will just have to put on our boots, grab our walking poles and start walking straight ahead, to the edge of the precipice (a 6 km walk and 500m of elevation gain from here, however… 🥴).

An island in the sky…

As planned, we set out this morning to conquer Croahaun. There’s no real marked path to the summit, so we followed the sheep trails, trying to stay on course and finding our way through the heather moors. The climb is just over 500 meters in elevation, but it’s relatively easy. Or perhaps it was the thrill of seeing the cliffs of Croaghaun that drove us on… Either way, our efforts were amply rewarded!… Any description of the view from the summit would undoubtedly be far less than the beauty of the scenery, which at that moment was simply splendid, watching the clouds try to climb the cliff before slowly falling back again and dissipating over the ocean. The cliffs of Croaghaun are (very) high, but in addition to being impressive, they seem to be set in a sublime setting where the green of the grass, the deep blue of the ocean, and the pure white of the clouds seem to blend perfectly. Far below, we can see Keem Beach and its white sand, and to the east, the entire island of Achill outlined in the mist like a watercolor. A few lochs reflect the sunlight, and offshore, a multitude of islands, small and large, seem to sprinkle the coast with confetti. A magical place like few others, no doubt…

Back in the valley, we continued our journey along the north coast of the island, stopping first at the abandoned village of Slievemore, a sad reminder of the Great Famine of 1845, which caused millions of deaths and a massive emigration to the United States (among other places). The Slievemore village site indicates that the place was inhabited for over 6.000 years, and that it was home to around fifty families before the Great Famine (rather a prosperous village for the time). Yet, all it took was one disease, the potato blight, to cause the greatest famine in Irish history and a major economic crisis in the rest of Europe… Trying to imagine (in vain, to be honest) the impacts of such a famine, we continued along the north coast of Achill Island to return to Cloughmore where we will spend our last night on the island…

Quiz

On our way back down from Croaghaun, we came across what looked like a huge engine. In fact, there were four of them within an area of ​​about fifty square meters, along with a piece of what looked like a transmission shaft. We first thought it might have been a plane that had crashed there, but to have four engines, it would have to be a large plane, and we don’t think a plane would have a transmission system. Plus, we searched the internet and there doesn’t seem to have been a plane crash there. So, here’s our new quiz for this trip! Who could confirm (from the photos below) if this is indeed an engine, and possibly, what vehicle it might have come from? We’re waiting for your answers!

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ON An island, AS on mainland, LEAVE NO TRACE!

– Always travel on public ways and respect the signs.
– Limit noise and interfere as little as possible with wildlife.
– Respect the other users.
– Leave rocks, plants and other natural features as you found them and respect historic sites.
– Take your waste with you and throw it into the appropriate containers, in the nearest village.
– Do not camp inside protected areas and do not make any fires.