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You may remember in the first of our films on beautiful Achill Island we visited the amazing beach at Doogort in the north of the island and in the shadow of Slievemore Mountain. In this second film we head west from there, to Dooagh, which significantly is the location of the most westerly pub in Europe as we’ll see towards the end of this video, so stay tuned to check that out. But, as always on Achill, the journey is part of the experience, so I’m filming as I go to let you see the incredible landscape that characterises this beautiful place.
A lot of work goes into these videos. You can now buy me a pint as a means of appreciation for my work on Naked Ireland, no obligation, obviously - only if you can afford it... I appreciate it. Cheers.
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We pass Keel bay, a gorgeous stretch of beach quite popular in the summer and look at the Keel Machair cliffs. The beach at Dooagh is unusual in that it is hard to describe it as a sandy beach. That’s because that while the sand was completely washed away in a storm back in 1984, it was restored again in an unusually high tide in 2017. This return of the beautiful 300 meter sandy beach inevitably caused a boost in tourism, but that was short-lived, since in 2019 it was washed away again. I fear that this beach might succumb to the same fate as that in Strandhill in Sligo that I filmed some weeks back. It is now comprised of rocky sea defences put in place by the local authorities to stop further erosion. But, who knows, maybe Mother Nature will work her magic again and restore the sandy beach.
Arriving in the village of Dooagh, you can see it caters well to the tourists with its numerous bars guest houses and small hotels. It’s a very attractive little place, in a stunning part of the island.
As an interesting fact, this area was the home of a Captain Charles Boycott, who was a British landowner in the latter part of the 19th Century. He was ostracised by the local people here as part of a campaign for “agrarian tenant’s rights” and hence the English language got the term Boycott, meaning to, well, to boycott!
There’s a little festival in the village each year on the second weekend of July, so if you’re going to spend your summer holidays on Achill, you might want to aim for that.
And of course, if you’d watched the last film you’d have seen how prevalent sheep were in the island too. I think I mentioned that once or twice. It’s a good idea to take care when you’re driving.
We arrive at Gielty’s pub, reputed to be the most westerly pub in Europe,
and a pub with perhaps one of the best views too! It’s just nestled along the edge of Clew Bay.
Inside, the bar is quite austere, but that’s fine, this is Achill Island after all not lower Manhattan! The point is you’ll get a really nice pint of Guinness here and you can also get food too, so what more do you need!