27th Sept 2024
Next on our tour we headed north up the west coast towards Galway along the Wild Atlantic Way. The only site we could find was Salthill Caravan Park in the Salthill district on the coastal outskirts of Galway. DON’T GO THERE ! This was the most expensive site we used on our tour around Ireland and the worst service and services. I penned a special TripAdvisor review to express my thoughts – here.
We walked along the promenade at Salthill towards Galway. It reminded me of Brighton or Worthing on a cold rainy day. After about a mile or so we turned and headed back to the motorhome. Mac was really disappointed since dogs were not allowed on the beach!.
One night was sufficient in Galway and we continued north along the coast heading towards Donegal but going via Sligo to break up the travelling. The site we picked in Sligo looked great on the website and in Google Maps. Strandhill Caravan & Camping Park is a beach front park on a renowned surfing beach. The site looks a bit tired, but the facilities were warm and clean and the staff were friendly.
Strandhill itself has a few shops selling surfing gear, along with cafes and a pub. The beach, as you would expect for a good surfing location, was steep and unsuitable for swimming because of the strong currents. Not that the lack of swimming bothered us, the weather had deteriorated further and was now 9 degrees with a wind chill making it feel like 5 degrees plus rain off the sea. The photos don’t do the place justice.
At this point in our Ireland tour we had circumnavigated the coastline from Dublin all the way around to Sligo on the Northern Ireland border. Quite frankly more than we expected considering we took it at a leisurely pace. We had visited the places we had researched head of the trip and found many more superb places that were not in any guide books. We could keep going into Northern Ireland or step inland and visit the lakes and mountains with their distinctive character. On this occasion we decided to save that for another trip rather than not seeing them at their best in mist, wind and driving rain. The weather forecast for the next few days was not good. So we headed back to Dublin and rearranged our ferry time to head home.
Here are a few photos :
Motorhome Niggles
Reassuringly once again – none at all.