As we left the campsite the sheep had taken over the field opposite. We drove a short distance and spotted a WAW Discovery point for Dugort Beach. We then realised Dugort has two beaches, Silver Strand and Golden Strand. An information board told the story of Edward Nangle who in 1831 opened the Achill Mission known as the Colony for the poor in the region.
Moving on we left the Achill Islands and headed north, calling in at the Nephin National park Visitor Centre. We tested an Irish Apple cake for i-Spy purposes and then took the 2km walk around the bog. We had been given a sheet showing the moss, grasses and wild flowers growing on the route, and enjoyed searching them out, we found 13 in total. The whole of the National park was made up of peat bogs, so not very picturesque, and so we didn’t take any photos!
We continued driving around the north edge of the park and took a couple of snaps from the van, including one area that was also covered in wind turbines.
We stopped at Lidl in Ballina, and had lunch in the town centre. It was rather run down but mainly independent shops as opposed to the big chain stores. As we left the town we drove over the wide river Moy and recognised it from our motorbike tour of Ireland 22 years ago.
At Enniscrone we walked alongside the beach where the waves came crashing in and then drove to the Quay for a Discovery Point photo. The wind had got up and it started to rain, so it was off to the campsite.
When we arrived, there was no-one around, we didn’t have a code for the barrier and we couldn’t even make out where the pitches were! I rang the number we had and eventually got the code for the gate. We parked up on a rather rough looking pitch, only to discover that the ehu wasn’t working. Not sure what we are paying €30 for!? No wonder we’re the only ones here. The good news is there’s hot water and the loo code works.
So curry for dinner tonight, a bottle of red and a game of Rummikub is planned.