Bunkered down in Ballina

Well, that has been a blowy few days! First the tail end of Helene, and then Ali following in hard behind her.

The in between storms journey from Lough Glencar to Ballina meandered as usual along the Atlantic coast, but actually wasn't all that interesting. All of the mountains were covered in cloud and mist, so I didn't take any photos. In any case, we wanted to get to Ballina and find a sheltered pitch.

The campsite is called Belleek Park, and has nothing to do with the town of Belleek. However, I think it was a great place to wait out Ali, which arrived furiously at four on Wednesday morning, and lasted through until midday.  Discretion dictated that we would stay another night in Ballina, so in the afternoon I walked into the town for a haircut. It was about forty minutes walk each way,  but inevitably I got caught in a shower or two.

It is a fine little town, though. This is the gatehouse to Belleek Castle, some two miles from the Castle, and was lived in until a few years ago. Apparently the Castle holds the biggest display of medieval armour in Ireland.



Ireland appears to have a knotty problem - Japanese Knotweed. All the way down the coast were hedgerows with this warning sign on them. They seem very worried about it.


Tomorrow we are off to Achill Island. Slainte.

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