By the time we left Achill the big high pressure system that was going to give Ireland as well as the rest of Europe a heatwave over the next couple of weeks was anchored in place. We stopped for lunch at a nice beach halfway to Belmullet and were about to leave when a woman appeared, introduced herself as Hillary and invited us up for lunch in The Sod House we had seen from the water. Unfortunately not only had we just eaten but the tide was coming in quickly on the very flat beach so we would have had to unload some gear from the kayak and put the trolley together to get the boat above the high water mark.
No problem says Hilary I brought you down these cakes! Later that day near Ballyglass we stopped for afternoon tea and ate Hilary's wonderful iced carrot cake.
Hillary the Cakemaker's Sod House and her website.
'Severn Class' Lifeboat at Ballyglass. We seemed to see one of these lifeboats every few days tucked away in sheltered harbours. Amazing vessels, self righting, max speed 25knots and the ability to carry 124 survivors.
Heading out from our campsite at Rinroe Point towards a group of offshore rocks called The Stags of Broad Haven.
In amongst The Stags of Broad Haven.
Puffins, so cute.
Yet another slipway and one of the best times of day - lunch.
Speccy sea stacks off Downpatrick Head.
Natural rock 'slipway' and easy landing on Kilcummin Point.
The glorious settled weather was wonderful but with flat calm seas and no wind it sometimes felt as though our paddles were made of lead and the sea of treacle as there was so little sense of progress.
We waited on this beach at Cloonagh for about 4 hours until about an hour before high tide as we wanted to land on Inishmurray which is about 7km offshore at high tide
The landing at Inishmurray was much easier than we anticipated but we were very happy to get there at high tide.
Looking SE across to the mainland from Inishmurray.
Swallows nesting in the beehive huts on Inishmurray.
Filling our water bottles from a stream trickling down the cliffs at Port, Co. Donegal.
The Donegal coastline was one of the most spectacular of the whole trip.
Grey seal, these and the Common seals we saw almost on a daily basis.
Sea stacks, Donegal coast.
Sunset from Roan Inish. The location of some of the filming of 'The Secret of Roan Inish'.
The next morning we navigated in 200-300m visibility for 2 or more hours to Burtonport.
Gola Island lunch on granite slabs almost too hot to lie on.
These two local fellas on Inishbofin were intrigued by our kayak as well as giving us a lot of local tidal information. They came down to see us off early in the morning.
Malin Head, it was a lot more jobbly than it looks.
2 comments:
Just found your blog Tim and Lynn, looks like you have been having an epic trip !! Great stuff. The Dean looks good too.
Just found your blog Tim and Lynn, looks like you have been having an epic trip !! Great stuff. The Dean looks good too.
Greg Simson
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