The Wild Atlantic Way
24 September 2018
The western coastline of Ireland is rugged and natural, with rocky shorelines, intense seas, and fierce weather. It most certainly is not a ‘pop up the umbrella and lounge on the beach’ type of coastline, which is just how we like it.
The small country roads that wind their way along the jagged coast have recently been branded as a route called the “Wild Atlantic Way”, a nice way to encourage tourism in this beautiful part of the country. Ireland is much more than just pubs after all! County Mayo has some beautiful coastline along the Wild Atlantic Way full of peat turf, rocky shorelines, seaweed-covered beaches, and grassy bog lands. Our little hobbit hole just on the edge of Castlebar was a great start point to the adventures in Mayo!
One thing I’d like to put in here quick, I really like the Wild Atlantic Way logo. Using a mash of the W-A-W to look like waves on the ocean, these little signs point the way along the route. We have patches we add to our bags from some of the natural adventures we’ve been on, and I think a Wild Atlantic Way patch would be a nice addition. Sadly, I don’t see that they make one. They should really get on it ‘cause I want one!
The Wild Atlantic Way stretches over much of the west coast of Ireland, where it showcases Mother Nature in her most wild glory. At times it seems that the landscape is more like an unspoiled alien planet, which is also what the producers of Star Wars thought when they chose to film many scenes from the new movies along the route! It is truly a stunning, beautiful place. Over the course of our tenth anniversary trip, we are going to spend most of our time right along the route, following it through the counties of Mayo, Galway, and finally Clare. It’s amazing to think how much of it we have already seen last time we were here, long before it existed under the name “Wild Atlantic Way”!
Each part of the route will be featured in an individual post, where we will visit points like Rockfleet Castle, Ballycroy National Park, Achill Island, Sky Road, The Connemara Coastline around Galway Bay, and all the way down to the Bridges of Ross and the Loop Head Peninsula at the southernmost end of County Clare. As we go, we will visit sites both natural and man made, explore some Irish history, and sample some of the finest culinary delicacies from the cold waters.
Follow us on our week-long natural adventure along the Wild Atlantic Way!
