Achill

As part of our trip to the West last week, we spent a day on Achill island. I had this dream of a real wild place, but found that it was quite densely populated, and that it is linked to the mainland by a bridge over Achill Sound. And you can also find it on Twitter and Facebook - scary or what!

The weather was quite miserable - the cloud never lifted over Keel. The other side of the island was getting a glimpse of sunshine, and the light in Doogort was magical. We had the beach more or less to ourselves (and a very eager puppy sheep dog who wanted to play fetch).

Calvey's Restaurant, supposedly the best place to eat on the island, was closed (for the season I presume). There was a nice-looking coffee shop in Keel, but it was mobbed by tour buses when we got there, and we were not in the mood for queuing, so we ended up having a soup in a pub somewhere - it was advertised as homemade, but the last home it saw was a packet of Knor. Just as well we had nice food in the hotel in Westport.

Still, I was glad to see Achill, as this was my first time there. I'm sure it's gorgeous when the sun shines. Looking at the Achill Tourism website, it certainly looks like a good place for hill walking and the blue flag beaches do benefit from a hint of sunshine.