Uncovering the heritage highlights of Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way
Ten years after the Wild Atlantic Way driving route was created along Ireland’s west coast, there are still places where heritage and culture outshine even the views
There were separate kings on the North Island and the South Island,” explained Micheál Keane of Blacksod Sea Safari as we approached the Inishkea Islands. “It was the old Gaelic order: Rí an Oileáin (the King of the Island) was the elder in charge – usually an older man with experience – he made the decisions about things like fishing or buying goods.”
I was on a RIB driven by Micheál as part of a larger trip exploring the lesser-seen corners of Ireland’s west coast. As we neared the island of South Inishkea, I could see a white-sand beach curving around a turquoise bay. This could almost have been the Caribbean, except that at the edge of the sands stood a line of stone ruins and cows grazing on the lush grass. It was most definitely Ireland.
The mysterious islands of Inishkea (Inis Cé in Irish) lie around 4km off the Mullet peninsula, a remote and windswept corner of County Mayo that not even many Irish people have visited. They had been abandoned in the 1930s, and beyond the shore lay the ruins of cottages which still contained the outlines of windows and doors, but no roofs. Remote and quiet, it is places like these, with their mix of history and beauty, that I come to the west of Ireland to experience…
