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Surfing Achill Island, Oileán Acla, Maigh Eo, Ireland - 8th August 2017

We head off from Lios Póil "up the road" to Achill Island, which actually turns out to be around six hours away or more. Once there, we explore the adjacent village of Achill, where the hotel - the Óstán Oileán Acla, or Achill Island Hotel - is based, find some more epic dereliction and enjoy a beer up at McLoughlin's Bar. On the first day, whilst visiting Keel Strand on the other side of Achill Island, Isobel and Fred got for a spot of body-boarding, whilst Harry builds multiple sandcastles up in the dunes. Then we visit the abandoned village of Slievemore up in the foothills before a quick trip to Trá Nua, or New Beach - so named because its sand returned overnight in Easter 2017 after having been washed away during fierce storms in 1984, 33 years before. Finally, on the way back to Achill, we explore some of the modern peat workings that still scour the land. Later, back at the hotel on the second night things are a bit busy in the evening as the scheduled yacht race has been cancelled due to fairly modest winds. After a while, some music breaks out as various people start singing, whilst we meet up with a musical family that plays guitar and penny whistle. Meanwhile, some geezer who apparently commentates on the yachts for local radio hauls out his "mobile PA" and menaces people with it, cajoling songs and music out of them and shouting loudly, whilst getting significantly tipsy and shouting "from Wicklow!" a lot.

next album: A Bike Ride to Mulranny, County Mayo, Ireland - 9th August 2017
previous album: Minard Beach and Ceol Agus Craic, Lios Póil, Kerry - 6th August 2017

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Classic Irish bar in Adare

Classic Irish bar in Adare

More brightly-coloured bars and shops in Adare

A derelict mill near Adare

Somewhere near Adare

Old Ulster Bank in Ballinrobe

Fred and Isobel in Óstán Oileán Acla restaurant

Fred contemplates his epic pudding

Harry at breakfast

Abandoned petrol pumps at the Mináun View Bar

An old hut in Keel

A random green cottage

Isobel and the boys roam the wide beach

Harry runs about

By the Keel Strand sign

Keel Strand

Isobel and Fred check out body-boarding hire

Fred's got his gear on

Fred and Isobel head down to the beach

Isobel's got her own board now

A lifeguard looks around

Fred pops up for air

Isobel looks back

The waves crash around

Meanwhile, Harry pokes about up in the dunes

Harry's extensive sandcastle construction

The boarders return

Isobel and Fred walk up the beach with Harry

The boarders peel of their wetsuits

Harry runs around as Fred gets changed

Various surf boards at Surf le Tomás

Harry climbs a 'spider pyramid'

Fred and Isobel

The road to Slievemore

Up in the deserted village of Slievemore

Isobel in the deserted village

The remains of a cottage

Derelict cottages stretch for nearly a mile

Harry runs up a hill

Green and red lichen on a white marble boulder

Isobel looks around in the rain

Fred in some ruins

We shelter from rain by an abandoned cottage

Exploring more ruins

The boys find a small tree

Fred shows off the tree

Isobel explores

Below the brooding mountain tops

Harry takes a pretty good photo of Fred

Blue skies and fluffy clouds

A mushroom grows on some poo

Derelict house on the way to Dooagh

Near Dooagh

We visit Trá Nua, or 'new beach' at Dooagh

The deep scar of a peat trench

More scars on the land

Isobel looks down on a big mound of peat

The turf-cutting landscape of Achill

Bags of peat stacked up in the distance

Isobel looks at some pampas grass

Rhododendrons infest the island

Peat mounds and a turf trench on Achill Island

Isobel heads off

Three mounds of peat briquettes

Cyclists head off for a ride

The Óstán Oileán Acla, or Achill Island Hotel

Achill Island bridge

The boys run up the stairs

The boys make a film

Fred and Harry make a stop-motion film

A derelict garden centre

A curious crennelated building

A derelict building with fake windows

We play pool at McLoughlin's, up the road

Harry has an unusual cue action going on

Fred puts some minifigs on the pool table

Inside McLoughlin's bar

McLoughlin's bar in Achill

Derelict house in Achill

A bay window in the derelict house

Boarded window and wide-open door

Decaying green paint on a wall

Another derelict room with peeling paint

Isobel peers into an abandoned shop

Inside the derelict shop, full of stuff

The old shop counter is still in place

Old posters stuck up in a window

Fred sweeps the pavement with some pampas grass

Big shiny motorbike outside the Achill SuperValu

Fred on Achill bridge

Our hotel, as seen from the island

Harry plays Top Trumps with Isobel

Fred eats sausages and chips agains

Harry does a fake grin

Patrick and Fred play with interlocking things

Harry, Patrick and Fred make a huge snake

The boys in the hotel's bar

Fred's new chum Caoimhe helps out

Meanwhile, some penny-whistle action breaks out

There's some clapping from the audience

Caoimhe and Harry are still constructing

Sinéad plays whistle for the announcer

Guitar and whistle

Fred and Caoimhe play pool

Caoimhe and Fred at the bar

Microphone Dan shouts 'from Wicklow' again

Red-cheeked rambling commentary

There's some frantic guitar. From Wicklow!

Harry is actually asleep standing up