Today was another day on the Wild Atlantic Way, this time on the northwest corner of Ireland. The weather continues to put Britain to shame with blue skies and awesome fluffy clouds. At one point a line of dark storm clouds chased me as I drove west from Belfast to the coast, but it eventually gave up. Winner!
Surprise Vistas
As I’ve said before, one of the best parts of a roadtrip is when you turn a corner or crest a hill and something new and beautiful spreads out before you. At several points today the coast just appeared suddenly, the stunning blue water and jagged cliff edges stopping me in my tracks. Luckily I’m pretty good at spotting a place where I can pull over to the side of the road without blocking the highway entirely so I can get out and ogle the scene.
Hidden Cove
At one point I needed to just pull over and stretch my legs and there was a parking area on the side of the road that I pulled into. As I pulled into a parking spot it turned out I was facing the edge of a hillside that dropped down to a beach in a gorgeous little cove.
Bleating Heart
I pulled over to grab a pic of a cool looking mountain (the pic was underwhelming, as is often the case when the lighting isn’t right or the perspective doesn’t make it look as imposing as it does irl), but I did take a video of this very angry sheep that immediately started yelling at me as soon as I stepped out of the car. And it got the rest of the herd yelling too. So I quickly got back in the car and drove on. Sorry, angry sheep!
Backroads
It wouldn’t be one of my roadtrips if I hadn’t dragged the Google Maps route onto something that’s barely a road. Today’s awesome one-lane road wound around a hillside overlooking the Atlantic. The photos don’t really do it justice, but the sunlight reflecting off of the water looked so cool.
Distant Errigal
Throughout at least half of the drive today, there was this particularly sharp peak that kept cropping up in the distance. Turns out it is Errigal, the tallest mountain in the county.
Another noted quality is the ever-changing shape of the mountain depending on what direction you view it from. Errigal was voted ‘Ireland’s Most Iconic Mountain’ by Walking & Hiking Ireland in 2009.
Had I known this was here I’d have changed the driving route to take me closer and get a better look. Ah well.
The Worst Friend
Overlooking Sheephaven Bay is an awesome peninsula with an gorgeous plateau and cliffs with the worst name ever: The Ross. Gross. But you wind along the hillside coast until you get to a point where you can get out and hike up a bit to get a 360-degree look at the surrounding area. Supposedly you can hike further out towards that abandoned stone building, but it didn’t look /that/ interesting.
Do Not Park On The Dock
Part of today’s route looked on the map like it was close to the coast, but it was still pretty far inland and there were hills and towns blocking my view of the actual coast. So I looked for the next brown sign with the wavy blue lines (Ireland’s “hey there’s a beach down this road” road sign) and hooked a left towards the beach and coast. And I picked a GREAT one. The water was so many shades of stunning blue. But I did notice the giant sign that said “NO Parking On Dock” and yet there were three other cars parked down there. So. When in Rome…
Clouds Are Still Cool
Yup, it’s time for more cloud photos. Sorry, but Ireland really delivered on the spectacular weather and I loved every second of it. It looked so epic!
