Wild, Wild Atlantic Way Part-1

When in doubt, always take the scenic route!

Wild Atlantic way is the Wild Wild West of Ireland, where the lawless Atlantic waves break on the rugged, almost 2500 km long, meandering coastline with stunning finger-like fjords in the south, scenic bays in the middle and steep sea cliffs in the north.

It has something for everyone. With stunning vistas and unspoiled, rugged natural beauty, it’s the perfect road-trip destination with jaw-dropping views at every turn (one has to remember to look more to the road!). The coastline is dotted with quaint and colorful towns with plethora of local pubs pulsating with foot-tapping live music, serving freshest & most delectable sea-food preparations, with locally distilled Irish Gins, freshly brewed beer, including Guinness which nowhere tastes as good as it does in Ireland. There is hiking for the outdoor lovers, whale watching, falconry experience and puffin spotting to entertain families, and the surf coast for the adventure junkies. Might as well, mention the almost “too” famous Cliffs of Moher!

If you have enjoyed the drive along the pacific coast in the US of A or marveled along the Gold coast in Australia, you would simply die of happiness and sensory overload along the WAW!

Its Easy to follow the Wild Atlantic way, with many sign boards with a zig-zag sign, just like this one:

It all comes down to the number of days at hand and the must-visit destinations/ must-do experiences. We had just about 6 nights to spare on the West coast and we planned to drive South to North and then back to Dublin. We don’t mind pushing ourselves a tad bit but the ideal would be at least 10 nights here.

One of the Popular Itinerary is as follows:

  • Dublin to Galway
  • via Cliffs of Moher
  • Down to Dingle
  • Ring of Kerry
  • Beara
  • County Cork
  • Back to Dublin.

We, being a bit greedy to see more, started south and went northwards. After driving through the jaw dropping Wicklow mountains, in the east, we powered through with a long drive of about 4 hours, cutting straight to Glengarriff, in County Cork, at the mouth of Beara peninsula, at the west coast.

Our itinerary (in a broad way) was as follows:

  • Glengariff (night-stay)
  • Beara peninsular (Castletown Beara, Allihies, Eyeries, Healy pass)
  • Kenmare (night-stay)
  • Ring of Kerry in reverse via the stunning landscape at Glencar and Ballagisheen pass, Portmagee, cahersiveen, to Killorglin (night-stay)
  • Dingle peninsula (Inch beach, Dingle, Dunquin Harbour)
  • Ferry across Shannon to Tarbert
  • Cliffs of Moher
  • Galway (2 night-stay)
  • Westport-Achill cycling
  • Donegal- Sleiveleague Cliffs (night-stay)

Amongst the peninsulas on the southwestern coast, are the three big ones; Beara, Ring of Kerry and Dingle. A question frequently popping on Ireland travel forums is, “which is the best?”.

The southern Peninsulas

The simplest answer would be to drive through all… or some bit of all, to appreciate all the flavors.

I’ve broken down the regions, as we covered them, on the map.

Points of Interest- Beara

Tips about Beara:

Follow the road except for two small diversions for Kilcatherine Point and Healy pass.

Stop for a sumptuous meal and one of the best Chowder-sea food soup at The Beara Coast Hotel in Castletown, Beara. We did not, but intend to stay here on our next trip, the location being idyllic.

On our way towards Eyeries, we chanced upon this beautiful arts gallery called Adrigole Arts, where we met the Talented owner and musician Gerry Bruton, picked up some inspired curios and had a slice of the most delicious Guinness Cake! Heard him play live at a pub in Kenmare, later.

The chocolate Guinness Cake- perfect slice!
Allihies, Beara
Colored buildings of Irish villages
So pretty that it inspires the photographer in everyone 🙂
Vivid village of Eyeries

Healy pass, according to us is a must-see point, not just any detour, and is a meandering, snaking route through the highlands seen from a high vantage point.

Healy Pass
The Vibrant town of Kenmare
Coachman’s Perfectly located for break of Journey.
Winding down the day…

And a perfect closure to a long post should be with some Live music! Don’t panic, I’m not performing, this is straight from the land of shamrocks!

I’m Breaking the road trip into a series of posts, so click here for the next one, which covers Ring of Kerry and Dingle!

Slán!

Ireland. By invite only.

Wild flowers in bloom along the Cliffs of Moher

For those:

· …who love long breezy road trips along winding coastal roads peppered with sheep here and vistas there.

· …for those who can not have enough of green. Be warned, it’s called emerald Isle for a reason and if too much of wet and wild is not your cuppa coffee… then maybe, hike some place else.

· …for those who love to sweat it out for a view that’s worth it’s while! Full of awe-inspiring hikes, ireland is a haven for adventurers.

· …for those who own a sturdy, smart, Rain jacket. That’s self-explanatory.

· …for those who dig pubs, live traditional Irish music and stout beer. Heard of Guinness? 😁

County Kerry

Why Ireland. We faced this question a bit more than we liked. Well, for all these reasons and more!

Ireland is hugely popular with Americans (since a fair majority can claim Irish inheritance) but it does not seem to be on any major tourist bucket-list for fellow Indians . And Europeans (that I know) don’t see the point, probably as they’re done with wet and green😬.

But hey.. ever heard of Dublin, one of the most trending cities of the world with old world charm and new age shenanigans. Galway, with its vibrant style and epic arts and music culture? What about the dramatic Wild Atlantic Way? No. Ever heard of “craic“…don’t you want to feel it? Or Guinness anyone? Which can never taste as good anywhere, as it does in Ireland!

Not sold yet. Please read on.

Ireland, the island, is divided into Northern Ireland, part of the UK with Belfast as the capital, and the Republic of Ireland, a separate country, with Dublin, the capital city.

Schengen visa does not cover Republic of Ireland, so one needs to apply for an Ireland visa.

A UK visa only permits you to visit Northern Ireland, unless you’ve been stamped with a BIVS (British-Ireland visa scheme, given by default to citizens from some nations including Indians) on which both countries can be visited. All this might change with Brexit.. so keep yourself updated with the latest at your time of visit.

Having said that, boundaries are, as of now, only on paper, or can be spotted funnily on a GPS…easily missable in actuality, since a sign board marks the boundary. Also, you’ll realize you’ve entered UK territory when suddenly the GPS starts talking in miles vs kilometers. 😁

Irish folks, on the whole, are a friendly cheery, relaxed bunch of folks, who will always guide you in the right direction.

Beautiful village of Eyeries on the Beara Peninsula

We had 9 days in Ireland, not much by any standard but since we had plans to be in London already, we latched on the opportunity to visit Ireland, a wish, brewing in the mind for some time!

I wont lie when I say that it was Hollywood that first inspired us to visit Ireland. Being compulsive romantics at heart and suckers for all things wild, we loved the movies, “PS, I love you” & Leap Year, both shot in the stunning Ireland. Movies of course, know no geographical boundaries, jumping from East to West in a wink.

Of course we wanted to see it all. Of course, we were driving around the country.. but distances and time taken on road, don’t mean the same in Ireland, as you will read everywhere. Smaller coastal roads, tourist traffic, sudden fog rolling in, could all alter the variables. And with a young kid, though very tolerant for his age, we couldn’t overdo the driving, push the timing or change cities everyday.

Our itinerary was as follows:

Day 1: London (STN) to Dublin, via Ryanair, arrival 10am, car rental pick up and drive out to Wicklow, a 1 1/2 hour drive, via Lough Tay and short hike in Wicklow to Glendalough. Then Drive across the country, from East to West coast, straight to Glengariff about 41/2 hrs drive, arrival on the west coast). (One might notice that we shaved off the southern part of the island from our itinerary which was tragic but necessary.)

Lough (meaning lake) Tay or the Guinness Lake with its foam head

Day 2: Morning in Glengariff, at the mouth of Beara Peninsula, exploring the Ring of Beara. Arrival at Kenmare.

Day 3: Kenmare for exploring the Ring of Kerry: Did a bit of loop the loop on this day, to avoid tourist buses by taking the longer route and to be on the opposite side of the road as the general traffic. Arrival at Killorglin.

Day 4: Killorglin- Dingle- Kingdom falconry. Sleep at Killorglin.

Day 5: Cliffs of Moher. Drive north to Tarbert- Took ferry across the estuary- drive to Liscannor- followed by a short spectacular hike from Hag’s head to see the Cliffs- arrival at Galway. Serenaded by Galway’s night life!

Day 6: Galway farmers market, drove towards Achill Island via Connemara- biked a bit of the picture-perfect “green way“. Had plans to see the Kylemore Abbey but couldn’t manage with the time constraints.

Day 7: Galway, exploring Latin quarters, saw Emma, tapping to Irish music. Lunch- Drive to Donegal via Sligo- Glencar waterfall on the way- arrival at Kilcar.

Day 8: Morning exploring Cliffs of Slieve League. Drive to Giant’s causeway in northern Ireland. Drive to Dublin.

Day 9: Explored Dublin via walking tour and beer tour.

The Temple Bar in Temple Bar district!

Day 10: Dublin to London.

So much to see, so little time!

See you all on the next post! Drop in question about the itinerary in the comments below. Always happy to help! Slán!