Highlights Hiking Achill Island

We have arrived in County Mayo, which will probably remind many readers of mayonaise (sorry for the old spelling!). Thanks to Audrey from the SARDA Ireland rescue dog team, we chose a great route here and were able to get a lot of nice impressions. Sometimes I'm not sure whether I'm really still in Ireland or in Scotland.

When it comes to food, County Mayo is like the other areas of Ireland that are by the sea, there is of course a lot of seafood here, i.e. fish and shellfish, as well as the normal pub food if you go to a pub. Then handcut chips with mayonaise! Unfortunately, the direct sale of fish wasn't open at the times mentioned, which is why we haven't been able to grill fish yet.

Christian and I have booked a campsite, but you can clearly tell that the season is over, the site closes here on Sunday. This means that some of the toilets and showers are already closed, and for me there are also rules that are not always understandable because the showers are only open at certain times. Well, it's off-season, but cleaning the showers would be nice!

That was a way to let off steam, but there are also great aspects of Achill Island that I don't want to withhold. With a campervan you are often spoiled for choice, you can sometimes park without restrictions, the surfers meet here in Keel or Keem, as well as on the north-east coast of the island east of Dogoort. This community never cares about bans, maybe I should learn a lesson here because we are far too conservative when it comes to dogs and overnight stays. The surfers simply camp, don't have their dogs on a leash and always enjoy a great view. (I disturbed some people's morning rest yesterday!)

I asked the campsite reception directly about hiking with dogs and received the same answer as we got from the SARDA Ireland team members. Put the dog on a leash and start walking.

I then implemented this where Christian and Nerone exercise more caution with the sheep. The result is that I am alone with my dog in the pictures, but I completed every hike without any disturbance or notice, there were no grumpy farmers because the orange leash is really clearly visible.

My highlight was the cliff hike on Keem Beach, which was really gigantic with the sun, plus sunburn despite applying lotion, because the weather is unusually good for September.

Tomorrow we'll try out wild camping, I'm really excited! I certainly won't forget the hikes here!