Safe Return Doubtful

While Arctic Scandinavia (where I was this time last year) bakes in 30 plus degrees here on the Mayo coast the weather has not changed for the last week, low cloud mixed with sea mist, a 15 to 20 mile per hour wind, and drizzly rain. Folk are taking evasive measures also for the storm Floris, which will arrive here late on Sunday it seems. 

I last posted from Muckross Head, writing the post in the late afternoon before the tiny car park got busy. It was a good place to stay, but the previous day campervanners had written on the Park4Night site that it was the best place in Ireland. Many vans arrive late and leave mid-morning from these places, having driven all day. I prefer to arrive much earlier, and if possible, stay a few days. I took a walk on the headland along the spectacular cliffs with the waves crashing in, and returned to nine vans parked up, where there is supposed to be space for three. The adjacent van to mine so close that I couldn’t open the driver door. Locals who arrived to walk the following morning couldn’t get within two hundred metres. This is one of the reasons why owners of campervans get a bad name and are not welcome. Many of these vans that arrived after 7 pm had left it so late, they had no inclination to go on. 

There was no 4G signal at the parking, which gave me a chance to use my new Starlink connection, which I am still getting used to. It worked really well. 

Late the following morning I headed west through the coast of County Sligo to the quiet village of Easkey. Close to its 13th century castle there were a few motorhomes, but a mile down the sea road there is a secluded small bay, favoured for swimming by locals, and there were lots of excellent places to park up. I stayed a couple of nights here, explored the locality by bike, and did a couple of runs along the seafront. 

Easkey had been about a ninety minute drive from Muckross, and on Wednesday I continued another ninety minutes or so to Belmullet, and the piece of land, almost an island, that lies beyond, renowned for its wild Atlantic beaches. After looking at a couple of places, both fine, but without views, I settled on the third option, at Cross Lough beach; the beach here is actually five miles long. We stayed two nights here, and only left this morning as it is necessary, in Bob Dylan’s words, to find ‘shelter from the storm’. There were two other people at the grassy car parking area, an older Irish guy with his young dog, in a rented motorhome, that just stayed put, he drove his car to it. And a German couple and there young girl, who were wind-surfing. It was very exposed to the weather, but in decent conditions, an excellent place to stop. 

After a run this morning, actually half of the park run that was taking place, with 60 entrants, including the actor Stephen Mangan, (I ran back down the beach, as opposed to the actual course), I watched the disappointing British Lions game from stormy Sydney, and then moved just a few miles down the island. 

A local had recommended Blacksod lighthouse, at the southern tip of Belmullet, as being sheltered, but it was anything but. Ten minutes drive on the sheltered coast is Feorinyees Bay, and its blue flag beach, which has a car park that is relatively out of the wind. I will sit the storm out here I think, and move on on Monday. 

Roja is continuing to struggle with the elbow arthritis affecting his left leg. He limps fifty metres or so around the van three times a day, a very gradual improvement. He hardly eats, which is more concerning, as the leg will need time to have a chance of improving. The liberla injection can take up to a week to get any benefit from.