|
The coast road to the east of Renvyle offers magnificent scenery, a great route for the hostel at KILLARY HARBOUR , if you are cycling, and some lovely beaches. Inland, the N59 route to Killary Harbour from Letterfrack is faster and similarly beautiful. The lightly wooded shore around Ballinakill Harbour provides a brief luxuriant interlude before the landscape of wild bog and granite reasserts itself with ever increasing austerity. The An Oige hostel at Killary (closed Oct-Feb; tel 095/43417), where Wittgenstein finished writing his Philosophical Investigations in 1948, has a deeply ponderous setting at the mouth of Ireland's only fjord, a cold dark tongue of water which cuts eight miles into the barren mountains. The hostel, while old fashioned, is warm and friendly and makes a wonderful sanctuary; to get there follow the signposts from the N59, though be warned, it makes for five miles of extremely difficult hitching, so be prepared to walk. There's a shop at the hostel open evenings; otherwise you have to go to Lettergesh shop and post office. From the hostel walk south, past the adventure centre, then take the right turn before the crest of the hill, and keep on for about one and a quarter miles; the shop is the first big house on the left, with a phone box outside. There are good sandy beaches in the vicinity. Further east, LEENANE is most famous as a location for shooting The Field , and stills from the film hang on the walls of Gaynor's Bar . It's also a finishing (or starting) point for the Western Way. Leenane Cultural Centre (April-Sept; GBP2/2.54) explores the history of wool, with spinning and weaving demonstrations and a collection of various sheep outside - if you've an interest, it's very enjoyable, and there's a good tea shop, too. Beside the bright pink, though otherwise unspectacular, Leenane Hotel is the Killary View Coffee House which does fine coffees and has one of the few Internet points in the area. For B&B try Mrs Wallace's Avondale House (tel 095/42262; GBP33-40/41.90-50.79), or Mrs Roberts' Sancta Maria (tel 095/42250; GBP26-33/33.01-41.90), while for somewhere a little more expensive there's the superb Killary Lodge Country Home (tel 095/42276, www.killary.com; GBP70-90/88.88-114.28), an old hunting and fishing lodge down by the harbour. If you're heading towards Cong in County Mayo , the desolate road takes you through Maum and on past Corr na Mona Hostel on the shores of Lough Corrib (closed Nov-March; IHH; tel 092/48002), just nine miles from Cong.
Your Tip for Killary Harbour and Leenane
Help other backpackers! Write your own guides and backpacking tips to Killary Harbour and Leenane - they will appear instantly on this page - Please only write a tip/guide to Killary Harbour and Leenane - visit the main Killary Harbour and Leenane forum to ask a question!
Please do not post links to your site here (they won't work) - please use the Killary Harbour and Leenane webguide section below! Thanks.
|
