In the remote parts of Connemara, the areas are often named after owners and occupiers. The Acton family own the area we were to camp in. The closest village is Claddaghduff.
A marks the spot’ Clifden is regarded as the capital of Connemara. It has the aspect of a small town but the population of a village.
Now we’ll have a google image – rather closer up.
A marks the place we pitched our tent. It was quite windy when we arrived and Kriss Acton, the site owner, recommended we select a place snuggled down in the dunes. We had a 50 metre walk to the beach. For some reason, google map shows the campsite in the sea. Kriss and his lovely German wife lived in a caravan at B. The facilities were there as well, in a large barn.
Now a step back 40 years. The campsite then, owned and run by Kriss’s father, had been at C. Kriss’s parents now lived at D. Other houses in the area belonged to Kriss’s brothers and sisters.
And now for our photos.
Our tent is up. The wind had abated a bit and there was no rain. We got the thing up easily.
Behind our tent you can see the top of a tepee. This belonged to an English archaeologist and his family. They were also flying a dragon on a long flexi pole – it served as a brilliant weather vane for the whole campsite.
We seemed to have plenty of space but those beaches beckoned.
They truly are fantastic.
The sea was as blue as it looks on the google image. Across the water is the island of Omey.
A paddle was irresistible.
Actually, it was very cold.
We walked over a sandy cliff to the next beach passing harebells, hanging on grimly to their vertical location.
This looked right. This, we were sure, was our beach from 40 years before.
Soon we were down on the beach, reliving those days back in 1971.
It called for another paddle.
But it really was far too cold.
At low tide we could walk through a gap in the rocks to another beach.
We struggled to find just where the campsite had been. It was about here.
I don’t remember carpets of wild thyme back in those long-ago days.
From here we looked out on two islands. Omey is on the right and Inishturk on the left.
It was time to pose.
More next time.
