Sraheens Lough

I didn't book a taxi, didn't know what time we would be ready. So eventually we walked to the corner and hailed a cab - no problems. A happy driver - but he didn't know where the airport hire car pickup was - I don't blame him, its confusing. He dropped us at the wrong place so we had to walk and walk. It was so busy - I have never seen such a slow process to collect a hire car. Neither of us were happy - I don't like Hyundais and Mary wanted air conditioning. Anyway, off we went.

We were travelling on the Motorway and so needed money for Tolls. Stopped at a place called Killcock in a tea room called The Timeless Cafe. What a delight. Modern food with brilliant flavours.Its mainly a sandwich place. Mary had ciabatta roll with salmon and crunchy noodles while I had a white pudding, bacon and potato hash - it came in a large bowl and was brilliant.

Driving on the motorway was easy and in no time we were heading for the west coast. The road became tighter, but it was still fun driving. We stopped at a ruined church and an old cemetery - Mary loves these. The countryside reminded us of the west coast of Scotland.

Achill Island is not clearly an island, there is just a ribbon of water running north-south that cuts it off from the mainland. A small, Burnie Emu River like bridge takes us to the island.

The B&B I booked is just on the Island and so was easy to find. It has a secret garden and the room is down by the water, in fact all the floors are tiled and furniture is up on blocks because it sometimes floods. They have the Atlantic Ocean on three sides and water running down the hill from behind and so there is no escaping the water on occasions. A lovely big room with a huge library - most books written in Dutch unfortunately.

Off for a pub meal tonight, tomorrow we explore Achill Island.

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