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| From Minaum Heights |
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| On the Atlantic Drive |
Another moody weather day as we drove out to Achill Island, west of Westport. Padraic had a great itinerary planned - climb the Minaum Heights and wend our way around the Atlantic Drive. We had hoped for a fine day, but it was not to be. As with the day before, mostly cloudy skies with an occasional shower. I must say that the chilly and overcast weather does not bother me; it feels authentic and to some degree, soul satisfying. Perhaps it reminds me of growing up on Long Island and reaches deep into my memories. The only disappointment would be its effect on the pictures I take.
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| The road to Keem Beach (beach is small white strand in the cove) |
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| Keem Beach (as Padraic said, "People are sitting on the beach in their sweaters and raincoats waiting for summer to arrive.") | | |
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The Minaum Heights were breathtaking, a mountain-top perch providing a 360 degree view overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, Blacksod Bay, Clew Bay, the Belmullet peninsula, the Corraun peninsula, and an innumerable scattering of islands large and small. Although I know photographs would never give you a sense of the monumental scale of the views, blue skies would have helped to bring out the infinite colors - blues, greens, tans, browns - that are present in the landscape. If we have a blue sky day soon, I will travel back out to Achill to try to capture these great scenes.
Of course, we found time to have a bite. We stopped at a cute little shop on Achill. Everyone had the very warming, freshly made potato leek soup with a brown bread scone, but we showed some individuality in our choices of dessert. An apple tart, a blueberry tart, apple rhubarb pie, with lattes all around. I had advised you last year that Marion had retired from a career teaching PE and Irish. And, although we were a fair distance from Westport, she bumped into two of her former students. The affection and regard in which she was held by these students was quite apparent. A nice moment.
On the way back, we detoured down to one of the many towers that served as a lookout for the famous Irish Pirate Queen, Grace O’Malley (Granuaile - “Bald Grace“), who terrorized these shores in the 1500s. From our Frommer’s Guide, “Grace O’Malley was born in 1530. She was, by all accounts, a larger-than-life heroine, a woman of fire and adventure, a pirate, mercenary, traitor, chieftain, and noblewoman. Her father was a famous sea captain Owen “Dubhdarra“ (“Black Oak“) O‘Malley. When her mother refused to allow Grace to sail with her father, she cut off her hair (hence Bald Grace), dressed in boys’ clothing, and joined her father’s crew. Later on, she used her fleet of fast galleys to force ships approaching Galway Harbor to pay tribute for safe passage. Grace was captured by the English at the age of 56. Although she was supposed to be hanged, she was released with her promise that she would engage in no more piracy. She continued to sail well into her 60s.”
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| Old Jim O'Donnell |
We traveled further down the peninsula to the quay and bumped into Jim O’Donnell, 85 years old and a lifelong fisherman in the waters around the west. The Duffys had come upon him two years ago in the same spot and remembered him as a formidable storyteller. Always willing to oblige, Jim gave us twenty minutes of his time, sketching out the history of the area and commenting, not always kindly, about some of the local characters. As you might imagine, we were treated to amusing turns of phrase, cleverly constructed pearls of wisdom, and flirtatious behavior toward the ladies. Jim was apologetic to not be able to follow some stories to the end, but he begged forgiveness saying that he had spent three months in hospital recently and had picked up some “hospital bugs” which have temporarily limited his powers of recall. A most amusing and treasured piece of serendipity to have met old Jim. Would loved to have caught him in front of a peat fire with a bit of whiskey in his glass.
