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Gemma O'Neill

Illustrator / Author / Adventurer

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Ageing a year on Achill Island

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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!

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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.

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tags: Mayo, Achill Island, Keem Bay, Keem Beach, Wild Atlantic Way, Ireland, Wild camping, Camping, Staycation, Illustartion, Illustartor, Artist, Art, Sketchbook, Sketch, Painting, Travel, adventure, explore
categories: Mayo
Tuesday 09.08.20
Posted by Gemma O'Neill
 

Tourism Northern Ireland Young Travel Writers Competition

I was absolutely delighted to be asked to judge the Tourism Northern Ireland Young Travel Writers Competition in 2018. It was the year of European Cultural Heritage, so Tourism NI, Department for Communities Historic Environment Division and partners launched a competition challenging creative young writers to share their travelling adventures of ‘How I explored Northern Ireland this year’. I’m a keen explorer myself, so it was a pleasure to judge the competition!

For the chance to win exciting prizes and the coveted title of ‘Young Travel Writer 2018’, entrants were encouraged to share their thrilling and adventurous tales. I offered some writing tips and shared some of my own inspiration in a piece with the Irish News.

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The competition was split into five categories and I judged the 6-8 age category. I chose Umar Muhammad as the winner of my category and he went on to become the overall Young Travel Writer of the Year.

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It was wonderful to judge the competition and it was so lovely to meet Umar and the other finalists in person too. We all took part in a photoshoot with Rosemarie McHugh from Tourism NI.

There’s a wonderful piece about Umar in the Irish News too. I also speak about why I chose him as the winner.

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tags: Tourism NI, Travel, Travel writing, travelling, exploring, writing, northernireland
Thursday 11.22.18
Posted by Gemma O'Neill
 

All work copyright © Gemma O’Neill 2011-2025. Projects and illustrations may not be used without full permission and credit.