Ireland day 1181. Sunday 22 December 2024- Xmas Mayo 2

Today’s summary	Went to Achill Island to walk to the top of Minaun from the road-end then down to Keel Beach for a swim (only one of us!). Finished off with a visit to the Achill distillery
Today’s weather	Stormy with occasional icy downpours but occasional sun. Severe gale to storm force westerly wind. Appx 7c

Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of our routes)		Close-up location (The red lines shows where we walked) (Click buttons below to download GPX of today’s walks as recorded, or see interactive map at bottom with elevations corrected): Minaun Keel beach

Commentary

James drove us over to Achill Island and up to the top of the Minaun road by the radio masts. We climbed up to the very summit of the hill about 500m to the south but it was a major struggle in the stormy wind. Didn’t linger on the summit as it was so cold and windy.

From there we drove down to Keel Beach – supposedly one of the best beaches in Ireland. After a short walk on the sand, in the rain, Katie went for a short swim which was astonishing, given the conditions. Quite a crowd of curious onlookers appeared from nowhere!

On the way back to the cottage afterwards, we stopped off in the Achill distillery – an artisan distiller, established five years ago. We had a look round – it was very laid-back – and of course tried some of their products (except for the driver). We bought a bottle to enjoy at leisure.

Spent the evening in our cottage (An Teach Ban – the white house) and enjoyed pork pibil and some board games in the evening.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


I look a bit mad in this picture. I think it’s the wind..	Leaning into it

Struggling to stand!	Summit of Minaun with the Mary on the top

Cliffs of Minaun	Inside the Achill distillery. No tours but we were free to wander wherever we wanted

Just the weather for a quick dip!