So it seems 2020 is quickly becoming the year of the staycation! It was my 32nd birthday recently and I fancied a little adventure somewhere new and not too far away for some celebrations. I’ve always heard incredible things about Achill Island in County Mayo; and after seeing a friend’s photographs of a recent Keem Bay wild camping trip, it seemed like the perfect spot on the island!
It was around a four and a half hour drive to Keem Bay from where we live; passing through County Down, Armagh, Fermanagh, Leitrim, Sligo and finally County Mayo. The drive is an experience in itself. I loved crossing the bridge to Achill Island and the cliffs just suddenly shoot up out of nowhere; beautifully sculpted by the relentless wind and waves of the Wild Atlantic Way. If you look closely at the second photograph above you’ll see the (slightly nail biting) final cliff edge part of our drive down to the bay!
We wasted no time, cracking open a few beers and getting set up straight away. It wasn’t long before the sea air had us hungry for an early dinner. It turns out this was a sensible decision, as the storm clouds moved in quite quickly afterwards.
Before we knew it, we were battening down the hatches for the night. We’d kept a close eye on the forecast and knew we would be ok, but the clouds were still quite intimidating. We were fully prepared to dash back to the car during the night if we had to, but we made it through to the morning. The wind was something else during the night; it was quite difficult to differentiate between it, the rain and the sound of the sea. It was an epic sound.
We brought a Decathlon three person, pop up tent with us and it did so well during the wild night. It shook in the wind at points, but didn’t move an inch on the cliff or let a drop of rain in either. We were so cosy during the night too!
We made the most of the calmer conditions in the morning and explored the beach. I squeezed in another quick sketch too, this time focusing on the beautiful colours on the island.
We had planned on heading home straight afterwards, but the sun made an unexpected appearance. We of course had to stay a little longer and have a dip in the sea. We ended up not getting home until quite a bit later than planned, but it was absolutely worth it for this little patch of paradise.
