THE WORLD’S FRESHEST COASTAL TOUR
Cinematic countryside, sizzling seafood and a wild Atlantic wow-factor… welcome to the edge of Ireland. By PÓL Ó CONGHAILE
Wild nature, iconic film locations and fresh seafood: PÓL Ó CONGHAILE maps out Ireland
THE WILD NATURE STRETCH
WHERE: Cork & Kerry.
DISTANCE/TIME: 550 kilometres; allow five or six days for a full immersion, or pick a single peninsula for a day trip.
DID YOU KNOW: You can stay in lighthouse keepers’ cottages on the Wild Atlantic Way – at Galley Head, County Cork; Loop Head, County Clare; or St John’s Point and Fanad Head in County Donegal ( greatlighthouses.com).
SO YOU WANT to get into the wild. You want to rip yourself out of the rat race, tear your eyes from the screen, gulp down lungfuls of fresh air that seem to actually carbonate you.
I know just the place. But to get there you’ll need a satnav.
‘It’s fairly windy down on the bridge,’ the friendly ticket lady said at Mizen Head Signal Station in West Cork. I grew up an hour from the Irish coast, and I’ve spent a lifetime exploring its nooks and crannies – but that was the first time I truly felt the wildness of its southern peninsulas. Gobs of froth blew from the ocean, plopping onto my car like marshmallows. Out on the water, a trawler was tossed about like a toy in a tub. I walked over the bridge to the old station, and stuck my tired face into the Atlantic wind. The gusts came like punches, the noise was deafening, and I stumbled backwards, laughing.
I guess the Wild Atlantic Way isn’t named for its gentle nature. This 2,500-kilometre touring route stretches from Donegal’s Inishowen peninsula to Kinsale in County Cork – but don’t even think about doing the whole thing. If my travels in Ireland have taught me anything, it’s to tackle things in smaller chunks. And if raw nature is your requirement, nothing will slap you awake like a blowy day on the Mizen peninsula.
This is one of five, gnarly fingers reaching into the Atlantic in West Cork and Kerry. They range from the well-known (the Iveragh peninsula, with its Ring of Kerry) to the off-radar (the 35-kilometre Sheep’s Head, or the Beara peninsula, home to Ireland’s only cable car). You’ll need at least a week to explore them all. If time is limited, stick to one and seek out the devil in the detail… rather than simply skimming the surface.
Take the Dingle peninsula. Last summer, a trip here took me through the lively town of Dingle to Slea Head, where the rocks of Skellig Michael and An Fear Marbh (‘the dead man’) are visible offshore, and a little ticket hut at Dún Chaoin serves as the gateway to the Great Blasket Island. Taking a boat across the sound with my eight-year-old son, our eyes peeled for dolphins and basking sharks, we disembarked onto an island peppered with the husks of abandoned cottages. The wind was calmer that day, but it was whispering with history.
Walking on the beach, we met a visitor. I asked him what brought him to the edge of the Emerald Isle. ‘My daughter had this as her screensaver,’ he said, gesturing around us.
The real thing was a little more invigorating.