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THE BEACHES OF IRELAND’S NORTH WEST

If you are one of the fortunate few who have discovered the delights of exploring new or different beaches by minilandyacht, then Ireland’s Northwest is well worth your attention.

There are lots of beaches to try & they are all relatively close together, so you can visit several in one day if you so desire.

Having visited the area three times in 2009, the following notes are offered to assist anyone thinking of doing a little similar exploration of the area. You may find it helpful to have your road map beside you, preferably one that has the beaches shown in yellow.

Starting at Strandhill, 5 miles West of the County town Sligo, & working clockwise round the coast, you have :

CULLENAMORE - A south-facing bay approximately 1 mile wide, on the south side of the village of Strandhill. Scenic, with southerly views & a backdrop of dunes with a golf course, this is a relatively flat & shallow beach that could dry out nicely on neap tides, but was wet, rippled, soft in places & windless on our visit. There’s scope for exploring the sandbanks round the western end of the beach, & even working your way northwards past the village, but it would require determination & a decent southerly or southwesterly breeze. Locals say the beach is popular with the kitebuggies, & is likely to be crowded in the tourist season.

CONEY ISLAND - Accessible only by a tidal causeway, the east side of the island was a very pleasant surprise during a week of easterly winds in that it was hard, dry & flat - unlike the rest of the estuary which was wet & rippled. The beach at Coney Island was probably a mile long, facing east, & refreshingly flat after the ripples of the estuary & causeway. The south side of the estuary dried out quickly, but became soft nearer a small island. Locals say it is best when the tides are neapy as it stays dry, but you would need a stiff breeze & low tyre pressures to cope comfortably with the ripples. The causeway might dry out on neap tides, but it certainly stayed wet on a spring tide & driving across would be regrettable if you value your car.

ROSSES POINT & DRUMCLIFFE BAY - There’s a small mile long west-facing beach at the end of Rosses Point, which might extend northwards onto a longer beach on a sandbar / spit that protrudes into the bay, with a further sailable east-facing beach on the back of the sandbar, but unfortunately we had light easterlies & heavy rain at the time of our visit so we did not go exploring. Rosses Point is the home of Dennis Kelly, the local minilandyacht enthusiast, & he’d be pleased to join you for a sail - if the winds are right !

LISSADELL - Facing south & overlooking Drumcliffe Bay & the two beaches described above either side of the sandbar / dunes, this is a real Jekyll & Hyde of a beach. The locals claim it is not sailable but, during the week of easterlies, we had a lovely time belting about on a good mile of lightly rippled but dry sand, overlooked by Yeats’ Lissadell House. However, in September, the beach was utterly unsailable. Dennis reckons the best you can hope for is to get a run back & fore along the high water line, so perhaps it’s best not to rely on this beach !

RAGHLY - Another mile long beach, just west of Lissadell, facing southwest, that we didn’t sail on due to feeble light easterlies & rain.

STREEDAGH - A mile or so of northwest facing sand, backed by dunes, behind which lies a tidal inlet. The beach is very pretty indeed. The mudflats behind the beach are sailable, especially on neap tides when they would dry nicely, & they are tantalisingly visible from the N15 main road. There’s something about Streedagh ... a “come hither” promise of an exquisite day’s sailing, which sadly remains unfulfilled despite 3 visits, but I’ll keep going back !

MULLAGHMORE - There’s a castle on Roskeeragh Point that is visible for miles around, overlooking a west-facing beach to the south of it, but sadly the beach is inaccessible, unless you fancy a walk of over half a mile, but even then the lovely orangey coloured sand is mainly soft & holed.

The “Town” overlooks a pretty northeast-facing bay which looks better than it is ... which is banky, soft in places & mainly wet ... &, despite being over a mile long, is deceptively small. If there are 3 people walking their dogs on the dry bits, it feels crowded. It would be hopelessly crowded in the tourist season, but is good for a quick visit out of season, if the wind is in the northeast.

BUNDORAN - One & a half miles of west-facing sand, with the steepest access path. It is a lovely beach that looks fantastic on the map but somehow fails to live up to expectations. Perhaps there’s too much “Fundoran” hype, but this is another beach that is best admired from the extensive car park (NB 2m height barrier), but is well worth a quick visit as it is very pretty. The sand is hard & flat, the beach looks as though it dries quite quickly, & there's scope for some fooling about on the sandbanks that get exposed at the northern end at low water. The river estuary leading up to Ballyshannon is not accessible, & forms part of a military firing range.

ROSSNOWLAGH - 2 miles of west-facing hard, flat & relatively quick-drying sand, with vehicular access so you can park on it. There’s a lovely pub - the Smuggler’s Creek - up on the cliff at the south end of the beach with the most stunning views straight down the beach, & spectacular sunsets, &, incredible as this may seem, there’s a massive modern luxury 4-storey hotel (The Sand House Hotel) complete with Spa with deluxe seaweed baths etc, right on the beach (currently in receivership - allegedly - can’t think why). There are lots of holiday homes & caravans behind the beach & it is definitely a popular spot in the tourist season. It's a great place to learn to drive, or play with your toys - of whatever description. It’s a dry beach, with no soft sand, no holes, & plenty in it’s favour, & you can sail round the northern end of it to get a tantalising glimpse of ...

MURVAGH - 2 or maybe 3 miles of west-facing hard, flat, relatively quick drying sand with - if you’ve just been to Rossnowlagh - a decidedly remote feel to it. Access is via a single track road through dunes & pine woods that leads to a relatively small but depressingly litter-strewn car park. A short struggle over the dunes & you are on a dry flat strip of sand, beyond which lies wet ripples. Head north & you’re into picture-postcard Donegal, with a vista of gorgeous wooded tidal inlets. Venture round the corner & you can see the County town peeping at you between wooded islands & beds of shellfish. It’s a super spot - scenic, atmospheric &, for the thrill-seeking sandyachter, lots to do.... like, for instance, tacking out for 2 miles to the west to see where the tide has gone .... or belting round to the south end of the beach, out onto the ripples, through a few water-filled gulleys, to see if it is possible to get round the corner .... & it is !!! You can pick your way through the rocks & Hey, another bay ! It may be wet, it may be rippled, it might even turn out to be full of holes, or it might be billiard-table flat & smooth, but you can sail across it then work your way through more rocks round the headland, only to find ... another bay ! With more of the same ! More rocks, more into-wind, less options ... but it is possible to tack very slowly upwind ... then there’s another headland & - gosh, what’s this, another bay ! With no rocks, so let’s go ! Straight across ! Okay, so it’s wet, but it’s not as full of holes as the other bay, but kersploosh ... was that a stream ? Kersploosh again ... & again ! Hmmm, perhaps there are streams - there was one shown on the map after all - but suddenly it’s dry now & that looks like another headland in the distance, & those look like more rocks ... with no way round down by the sea, so it’s up to the high-water mark & bounce & bobble over 20 yards or so of rocks, then ... oh dear, we’re heading due into the westerly wind again, so it’s tack, tack, tack up a narrow, sloping strip along the high water line ... gawd, this is heavy going, we’re barely moving ... tack, tack, tack & phew, the beach is beginning to open out a bit ... no it’s not, there’s more tacking to be done, & another 20 yards of rocks to bounce the yacht over, & aha ! the beach is definitely beginning to curve, there’s fewer rocks, the speed is building, yay ... faster, faster ... there’s definitely fewer rocks, more people, cars even. Cars ??? & what’s that whopping great structure way off in the distance ? Good grief, I’d recognise it anywhere, it’s that massive hotel ... which means this is Rossnowlagh ! Wow ! What a sense of achievement ! You sail joyfully up the beach, noting the position of the pub up on the cliffs & wishing it was just a bit nearer, then circle round the rocks at the southern end, turn & head back !

It looks like 6 miles on the map, but it’s nearer 8 miles on the GPS, what with all the tacking, or 1 hour 40 minutes for the round trip, & the memories will stay with you for far longer. As I write this I’m re-living slaloming downwind, at speed, through an impossible rockscape ... recklessly gybing through ridiculously narrow gaps ... what a buzz ! What a sense of achievement ! The locals said Nah, can’t be done ...but we did it ... & how ! x 5 ! On 4 different days ! Even when you get fed up struggling upwind, you find yourself gawping slack-jawed at the stunning scenery all around you ... the views across Donegal Bay ... what a place ! What a beach ! What a journey ! I could go on ...... & finally, the Harbour Restaurant in Donegal .. what an eatery !

ARDARA - 20 miles northwest of Donegal town is a huge yellow - on my map at least - sand filled estuary, chock full of promise ... but what a disappointment ! It looks good on the map, & great from the road, but No, don’t bother. Give it a miss. Don’t be fooled by signs saying Waterfall & Caves, or Popular with Kitebuggies either. The river meanders all over the place, there’s far too much soft sand & access is from the southwestern end only. If you do make the mistake of thinking Surely part of it is worth the effort, the drive anticlockwise back to Ardara is stunning.

There’s another lovely beach shown on the map at Loughros ... but you can’t get to it.

NARAN - The merest little beach, a mile max. in length, facing northwest, with an island that’s cut off by the tide & a caravan site hidden in the dunes. It’s a bit of a tourist hot-spot that we dismissed as Not sailable on our first visit, but then were forced to reconsider when a Blokart Sales Open Day was organised there in September, & found that good organisation, crowds (Donegal definition), family fun & minilandyachts can all happily coexist, for the mutual benefit of all. Hats off to Pat Letters & Brian Tweedie for their highly successful & utterly admirable promotional activities ! They are actively succeeding in getting the youngsters and families out sailing on the beaches, so Bravo !

There’s a lovely stretch of sand shown on the map at Clooney, but ... it’s inaccessible. Don’t bother going looking for access as there isn’t any, & the signage will send your blood pressure soaring ... besides which, why bother when there’s

DOOEY, GWEEBARRA BAY - Remote is the word for this absolute gem of a beach. It’s worth the trek down single track roads - the southern route is more scenic - to get to this stunning mile & a half stretch of west-facing white sand. When you get there, ignore the car park & head right, along a bumpy grassy track, as that’s the best way on to the beach. What a location ! Idyllic’s the word. The beach is dry, hard & flat ... but it does go all banky & soft at the southern end, but don’t be put off ! The scenery’s stunning, & it does seem wonderfully remote, especially after Naran. If you’re blessed with a southerly breeze, you can, with determination, get out onto the surprisingly firm banks & work your way round the southern end of the beach, on the banks of the river, into the next bay ... then, tacking back inland, following the high water line right round the bay for another mile or so, through a little stream, through tufts of grass, until you end up in a field full of cows that seemingly could not have cared less about the intrusion into their privacy. Another epic journey - a whole afternoon vanished in a flash !

THE DONEGAL AIRPORT / BUNBEG AREA - Stunningly beautiful, with lots of sandy tidal inlets & islands galore, there’s much fun to be had exploring the numerous relatively small but incredibly scenic beaches, especially on neap tides. The Derrybeg area is bordering on the prosperous, with extensive ribbon development taking advantage of the gorgeous views over the islands . Inland is the desolate Glenveagh National Park, which provides a striking contrast.

MEENLARAGH - One & a half or 2 miles of north & west facing sand. A wonderfully scenic curved bay with distant islands, dunes, banks & a sandy spit at the northern end. Unfortunately the wind peaked at 40 mph during our visit, at which point most of the beach seemed to be airborne & we had to physically hang on to the yachts & sit it out out until a semblance of normality returned, so we were unable to explore the northern end, which extends eastwards to a big river which separates it from

FALCARRAGH - A good 2 miles of straight, north-facing sand, backed by dunes. Banky in character, with some areas of holes, there’s a remote feel to this beach. The stream by the access looked a bit deep following the recent rains, so we didn’t do the eastern end, which was a shame as it looked even better - flat, free from banks, suitably windswept & not a soul on it. There’s ample fun to be had on the western mile & a half of this beach &, together with Meenlaragh, these two beaches are worth a weekend on their own.

The northwest-facing beach next door is inaccessible. Dunfanaghy & Portnablaghy attract No comment - we didn’t visit them as we were only interested in the bigger beaches by now - & we may well have been spoiled for choice !

ROSEPENNA - This beach scored on both length - nearly 3 miles of west or northwest-facing sand, with a sandy spit/point at the southern end - & scenery, overlooking the Ards Forest Park. Mouthwateringly scenic, with glorious southerly views over classic Donegal wooded sandy estuary from the admittedly soft sandy spit.

At the northern end of the beach, just round a rocky point, is Downings ... a touristy village with a small, hard, flat beach with car access, backed by a caravan site, so it could be crowded in season, but it’s just the place for a quick hoonaround in a southwesterly breeze.

At the western end of Fanad Head is THIAMAIN, a good mile & a half, possibly 2 miles, of north-facing picturesque bay, subdivided by a rocky outcrop that can be crossed at the uphill end. It is worth the effort of walking the yacht the 50 yards from one beach to the other as you get 2 beaches for the price of 1, & the scenery’s subtly different too. The east end faces northwest, the west end faces north, with a rocky headland at the west end. Fine, flat beaches, but a sudden downpour flooded the western end at the time of our visit.

PORTSALON - Particularly memorable, this east or northeast-facing beach, because the stream towards the southern end, swelled by recent rains to just over knee-deep, was flowing so fast downhill that it nearly swept me out to sea when I mistakenly tried to sail through it - & found it was nearly impossible to stand up in it ! The northern portion of the beach curved in traditional Donegal style towards the village, where there’s a large car park & a “tunnel” through the golf course , & there’s the wreckage of an airplane on the beach. The stream wasn’t any better on the return trip, but at least it wasn’t such a surprise - unlike the southern end of the beach ... a rocky headland at the end was just asking to be sailed round, & there was another half mile of extra beach, with rocky outcrops/cliffs providing shelter for the lucky few who had found this idyllic spot.

Which leaves the Inishowen Peninsula (Fahan, Tullagh, Pollan & the two beaches on Malin Head) to visit ... perhaps in 2010 ?

(If you can fill in the gaps in these notes, or want to add anything, please do so !)