Wild Atlantic Way
The Wild Atlantic Way stretches along Ireland’s West coast from Donegal in the North to Cork in the South and Clybaun Hotel is at its very heart. Along the way you can stop at 157 Discovery Points and learn more about this fascinating area, its colourful people, gorgeous villages and towns, ancient culture and breath-taking scenery. With Clybaun Hotel as your base immerse yourself in this unforgettable part of the world. Here are some of our favourite attractions.
Derrigimlagh Bog Connemara
Less than an hour from Clybaun Hotel you can listen to the echoes of history in a sea-swept blanket bog. You can hire a bike in Connemara’s largest town, Clifden, and set out on one of the area’s cycle routes which brings you through the townland of Derrigimlagh. Your journey will take you by the blanket bog, a stunning mosaic of tiny lakes and peat crossed by a single narrow road, where you can stop and view two sites of international historical significance. First you’ll pass the remains of the world’s first permanent trans-Atlantic radio station. It was built more than a century ago by Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi and transmitted the first transatlantic radio signal in 1907. During the Irish war of Independence it was burnt to the ground but you can still view the vast site where many foundations of the buildings and workers’ houses remain. Nearby is a white aeroplane wing-shaped memorial which pays tribute to John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown. In 1919, Alcock and Brown were the first pilots to fly non-stop across the Atlantic, before they crash-landed (safely and uninjured) in Derrigimlagh Bog. In this secluded spot, two resonant examples of the western seaboard’s trans-Atlantic ties.
Explore Beaches On A Connemara Pony
The sure-footed Connemara pony – the only horse breed native to Ireland – is the ideal form of transport across Connemara’s blanket bogs and dazzling beaches. At low tide, Connemara ponies (with their riders) wade across the shallow channel to beautiful islands like Finish, Mweenish and Omey off the coast of Connemara. Legend has it that the ponies are descended from Arab stallions that swam ashore when the Spanish Armada sank off the Connemara coast in the 16th century.
Killary Harbour
Located in the heart of Connemara Killary Harbour is a fjord that forms a natural border between counties Galway and Mayo. Some of the most dramatic scenery in Ireland can be found here. Mweelrea, the highest mountain in Connacht at 814m rises from the north shore of the harbour. To the south you can see the Maumturk Mountains and the Twelve Bens. There are two small communities in the area: Rosroe to the south and Leenane to the east. Located in Leenane is a hostel that was once a residence where philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein stayed for some time after WWII, using it as a quiet place to write. You can also explore the so-called Green Road, a route that travels eastward along the side of the fjord toward Leenane. This road stretches for 9km and was built in the 19th century as a famine relief project.
