The Wild Atlantic Way - Galway & Clare - Part 1

It was a nice morning as we left the beach with a good view of Croagh Patrick and low lying cloud in the valleys inland.

We took a road away from the coast that ran through the scenic Doulough Valley - 19 miles through craggy mountain scenery with dark cold looking lakes nearer the south.

Just before we crossed the Galway border we passed the Aasleagh Falls which had a lovely backdrop of the Connemara landscape.

Once into Galway county we reached Killary Harbour which is a 16km long fjord running between Galway and Mayo surrounded by mountains. Although not as huge and dramatic as the Norwegian fjords we drove by last year, it was very beautiful.

We had a small diversion to look at Kylemore Abbey sitting in a dramatic position by a lake before rejoining the WAW.

We called in at a scenic beach at Renvyle Point which took us down some narrow but pretty lanes.

We had a stop at Claddaghduff beach where it was possible to drive across the sand to Omey Island. Colin drove Lo11y onto the beach but the tide wasn't out enough to get right across. Driving away from there we saw some leaning electricity posts - we're not sure if it was the wind that had caused this or the guys installing them had been on the Guinness.

Next we drove the Sky Road - a 16km circular route with great views of the rugged coastline around Clifden Bay.

We called into the town of Clifden to drop off some laundry. It looked a nice lively little town that we planned to explore more the following day when we returned to collect the laundry. We headed to Bunowen Bay, south of Clifden, to park for the night on a fishing pier next to a Smokehouse. We couldn't believe it when the cafe attached to it said it had run out of food, but we visited the factory where the owner talked us through the harvesting of fish that they used and the smoking process. We had seen fish farms around the coast many times in Ireland, but we were told 98% of Ireland's salmon is organic. Colin questioned if you could call it organic if it was factory farmed, but was told the salmon were only fed organic food and no chemicals were involved. He reminded us it is all on a much smaller scale than what we had seen in Norway last year. We were surprised to hear their largest market is France. They sold a range of hot and cold smoked salmon, mackerel and tuna. We bought a selection to try - we can confirm it is very tasty.

We enjoyed a very peaceful night on the pier. There were lovely views and a large pod of dolphins swam round during the evening. The midges were biting badly though, vexing us and the local fishermen.

We called back in at Clifden the following morning. The town was buzzing with visitors for the annual Clifden Connemara Pony Show. Most of the shops and businesses were displaying cups and rosettes they had won in previous years. Colin's bike is crocked (the crank has broken) so he was hoping we could get it fixed in Clifden but the bike shops said they didn't have the necessary parts, but he did get the name of a bike shop in Galway City which we could visit the following day.

Leaving Clifden with clean clothes (just the one odd sock missing...) we continued our journey back on the WAW. This section wasn't quite as special as some stretches we've done, but we did have a wow at the Dogs Bay and Gurteen Bay beaches that sit back to back separated by a dog bone shaped sand spit. The aerial photo below shows what we can't without a drone. Both beaches have soft white sand and crystal clear waters, Dogs Bay being the more sheltered beach.

From here we had a pleasant drive without stopping for anything in particular - the roads were much quieter with less tourist traffic.

As always the roadside flowers were beautiful and adding a lovely splash of colour to the route. Below: Purple Loosestrife; Montbretia; Hardy Fuscia; Mashup.

We wanted to find another peaceful scenic spot to park for the night so we took a spur on the WAW that took us over a series of small islands connected by bridges and causeways. They were quite sparsely inhabited and we kept going until we reached the tip of the last island (Lettermullan) where there was a small parking area with the most incredible views. There was a German campervan already parked up. There was a tower in the distance and we could see where people had been walking, but there were signs on all the gates saying 'private property'. We had read the owner charges 10 euros to park overnight and there was a number to call. I left a message on his voicemail and he did call back to say he'd call by later to collect the money. He also confirmed that we were free to go through the gates and enjoy the headland scenery. It was a beautiful spot with the evening light and sunset making it even more special. The owner was a pleasant chap and said he had to put the signs up as visitors kept leaving the gates open and he normally has cattle grazing there. We had to close the gates several times while we were there after other visitors failed to.

The following morning we headed along the coast into Galway City. An emissions warning light and another engine warning light appeared on Lo11y's dashboard. This hasn't happened for a couple of years so we were a bit perplexed why they had returned. A google search gave the usual advice - 'you need to get it plugged into a diagnostic unit'. Hmmmm.

Before we called in at a truck centre, we tried the bike shop to get Colin's bike repaired. The owner said he had way too much work on and wouldn't be able to look at it. He gave Colin another place to try, but he got the same answer. Not the best start to our day.

The truck centre was a little out of town. The guy Colin spoke to was very helpful, but said they had a two week backlog of work, so couldn't even do the diagnostics check, but he called another place a few miles away and the agreed to look at Lo11y straight away. The young chap at this place was cockerhoop about Lo11y. His diagnostics showed it was an emissions issue - I think we've been here before with Iveco - but he said he could get another guy to remap Lo11y which should make her run smoother and get rid of the warning lights issue. The guy got on with it and an hour later we were on our way.

We'd had enough of Galway right now, but would be returning at the weekend to meet up with Colin's niece Madeline who was in Dublin meeting clients (aka a work jolly) and wanted to see a bit more of West Ireland.

The Burren National Park had caught our attention - it's away from the coast (in County Clare) and has a very different landscape to what we've seen so far. It is composed of limestone formed over 340 million years ago. Although the Burren National Park is quite small, the limestone scenery extends out to the coast. We stopped in a campsite in the small village of Corofin (our first campsite since Anglesey) where there is a National Parks office that offers free shuttle buses to the park's walking routes trail head. As we pulled into the campsite we suddenly became the centre of attention and within 2 minutes had most of the other visitors around Lo11y asking questions, while Colin enjoyed showing off her attributes.

The weather couldn't have been better the following morning - as warm as we've had it, no wind and clear blue sky. The trail took us across the limestone pavement, past a clear blue lake, then upwards over rocky terrain. It wasn't easy under foot, walking and climbing on uneven shaped rocks. When we reached the highest point we were met by a group of goats. The views were terrific. The walk back down the stony paths was a bit painful and we were under a bit of pressure to make it back to the last shuttle bus before the drivers lunch break -we made it with just minutes to spare.

We now headed back to the coast to Doolin - the centre to visit some of Ireland's biggest tourist attractions. We stopped for refreshments in a town called Ennistimon which had very photogenic cascades on the river running through.

We were a bit taken aback at the volume of traffic around Doolin. It's by far the most touristy place we've visited so far on this trip. Thankfully we had booked a campsite for a couple of nights which turned out to be very nice with spacious pitches and good facilities. It was just a 2 km Brompton ride to Doolin Pier, where we had booked a seaweed baths session. These baths were in wooden barrels overlooking the harbour. After climbing into the hot water they add a bucket of slimy seaweed and you relax for an hour (or get fidgety like Colin). We were able to top up the hot water. Again the weather couldn't have been better and our skin felt amazing. It also helped ease the aches and sore feet from our morning hike. We called in at a pub for a welcome tipple on the way back to the campsite.

The following day we had a relaxed morning on the campsite before visiting the Doolin Caves which showcases the largest stalactite in Europe (We think it used to have the world record but one in Brazil has pipped it). At 7.3m it is an amazing sight. It was discovered by two young British cavers in the 1950s. While we had been in there a sea mist had appeared - not what we hoped for our boat trip to view the cliffs of Moher later that afternoon.

After the previous days beautiful early evening light we had booked a boat trip along the cliffs at that time. The sea mist we’d seen gathering earlier hadn’t shifted and the wind had picked up a lot. Initially we didn’t think we were going to be able to see the cliffs at all but thankfully they did clear momentarily so we could get a better idea of their scale - impressive but only one third the height of the Slieve League cliffs we saw back in Donegal.

It was very mizzly and cool when we finished the boat trip. There were some nice eateries near our campsite but we hadn’t managed to book a table. Colin tried his chances at a nice seafood place and they very kindly squeezed us on a table with other diners. We had a delicious trio of starters - scallops, oysters and mussels (I did enjoy it more than the photo below suggests!).

We called in at a lively pub with music on our way back to the campsite.

The following morning we drove north on the WAW towards Galway City. It was a surprisingly scenic section with the Burren limestone featuring along the way.

We called in at a nice fishing pier (Ballyvaughan) and the pretty harbour town of Kinvarra. Then it was back into Galway City to meet Madeline.