After a restful night I was up and breakfasted comparatively early. A quick walk out to view the Downpatrick Head itself. An old coast watch hut, and another of the Eire stone markers from WWII with number 64. Ireland was neutral "on the side of the Allies". Initially the Eire markers were to warn aircraft of neutral territory but later numbers were added, clockwise around the country, with the pilots flying out to Atlantic convoys, or making landfall with aircraft from America, then knowing where they were. There were cliffs again, and a blowhole but the atlantic was too calm. The Dun Briste rock tower was attached to land until the 1300s.
A short drive and I arrived at the Ceide Fields. Entry to the visitor centre exhibition was €5. This was impressive and good value explaining the history of the area, the peoples that once inhabited and how it was discovered. This was the introduction of the earliest forms of farming settlements around 3500BC that had somehow developed in Asia a few thousand years earlier and gradually changed the world from the hunter gatherer. It explains how these first farmers set up a network of dry stone walls as fields and enclosures for their animals. From the earliest times of the settlement they know dairy was part of the diet. The field system extends over hundreds of hectares on the hillsides for kilometers in either direction along the coast. A changing climate becoming wetter probably made the society move away as the peat bogs encroached. It was the process of turf cutting that lead to the realisation something lurked beneath. The visitor centre itself is an impressive pyramid building with views from the top over the surrounding countryside.
Now it was time to hit the road properly and get round the big corner from west to a more southerly heading. The countryside became a wider expanse with rolling hills and a few smallish mountains in the distance.
There are almost countless opportunities for brief detours to various headlands. Beware these are usually down some uneven single track road with random sheep in the verges. An Bhinn Bhui had yet more impressive cliffs.
A brief stop for resupply at an Aldi saw me onto the Mullet Peninsula. Yet more headlands to view including Ceann Lorrais which had views back to the previous cliffs.
I was becoming conscious of time having a campsite booked. I missed out the rest of thus area and now followed the Wild Atlantic Way towards Westport. Although an N class road, it was fairly twisty. However there are relatively few vehicles despite the primary road status. It skirted the Ballycroy National Park.
Time was pressing so I skipped the Achill Island (I may yet backtrack), and took the direct N road through Westport and to my campsite in Connemara.
A short drive and I arrived at the Ceide Fields. Entry to the visitor centre exhibition was €5. This was impressive and good value explaining the history of the area, the peoples that once inhabited and how it was discovered. This was the introduction of the earliest forms of farming settlements around 3500BC that had somehow developed in Asia a few thousand years earlier and gradually changed the world from the hunter gatherer. It explains how these first farmers set up a network of dry stone walls as fields and enclosures for their animals. From the earliest times of the settlement they know dairy was part of the diet. The field system extends over hundreds of hectares on the hillsides for kilometers in either direction along the coast. A changing climate becoming wetter probably made the society move away as the peat bogs encroached. It was the process of turf cutting that lead to the realisation something lurked beneath. The visitor centre itself is an impressive pyramid building with views from the top over the surrounding countryside.
Now it was time to hit the road properly and get round the big corner from west to a more southerly heading. The countryside became a wider expanse with rolling hills and a few smallish mountains in the distance.
There are almost countless opportunities for brief detours to various headlands. Beware these are usually down some uneven single track road with random sheep in the verges. An Bhinn Bhui had yet more impressive cliffs.
A brief stop for resupply at an Aldi saw me onto the Mullet Peninsula. Yet more headlands to view including Ceann Lorrais which had views back to the previous cliffs.
I was becoming conscious of time having a campsite booked. I missed out the rest of thus area and now followed the Wild Atlantic Way towards Westport. Although an N class road, it was fairly twisty. However there are relatively few vehicles despite the primary road status. It skirted the Ballycroy National Park.
Time was pressing so I skipped the Achill Island (I may yet backtrack), and took the direct N road through Westport and to my campsite in Connemara.
