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KILLARY HARBOUR AND LEENANE |
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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 Óige 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; £2/2.54) 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; £33-40/41.90-50.79), or Mrs
Roberts' Sancta Maria (tel 095/42250; £26-33/33.01-41.90), while for
somewhere a little more expensive there's the superb Killary Lodge
Country Home (tel 095/42276, www.killary.com; £70-90/88.88-114.28), 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.
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