Arise and go ... to Sligo
I’d run away. For big wave surfers hoping to compete in this year’s Billabong bash at Mullaghmore, however, gut instinct goes the other way. As I write, those surfers are on notice, monitoring the swell as a competition deadline of Mar 1 approaches. Given the green light, they’ll pile right in.
Type ‘Mullaghmore’ into YouTube, and they’re the first to crop up too: monster breaks spotted with fly-like humans, some shooting to safety, others toppling into the churn. But what you don’t see on those clips is the scenery in which all of this takes place. Big waves strike once or twice a season. Mullaghmore Head is a small-but-perfectly-formed peninsula year-round.
Driving it takes all of 15 minutes. But you’ll cover so much. There’s the iconic Classiebawn Castle — former holiday home of Lord Mountbatten, who was killed by an IRA bomb here in 1979. There’s a stone pier set against pastel hotels and holiday shops. There’s a sandy beach, complete with Facebookable sign warning visitors not to “approach or attempt to move” cattle.
All around, land eases in angular formations into the sea. Across Donegal Bay, on a clear day, you can see the hulking shoulders of the Slieve League Peninsula. Looking inland, there’s the broody mass of Ben Bulben. With or without the waves, it’s a magical spot.
Sligo makes a superb entrance, no matter which side you approach it from. Driving down from Mullaghmore, the N15 skirts right around the base of Ben Bulben. Coming from the west, or east, you can’t take your eyes off Knocknarea, crowned with Queen Maeve’s cairn.
The town sits cradled in Sligo Bay, cleft in two by the gushing Garavogue River. Were you to be teleported onto its streets without seeing the surrounding geography, you might be bothered by the swarming traffic, the patchy appearance to its streetscape. But taken in the context of its setting, the place rises above recession, and the colour jumps off the page.
I can take or leave the Glasshouse Hotel, hanging over the river, for instance. But I love the statue of WB Yeats outside the Ulster Bank, wrapped in a cloak of his own words. I love that you might see kayakers under the bridge, or that, by night, the lights come on outside Hargadon’s, illuminating the pub’s 19th century shopfront. I love the chiming cathedral bells.
Just as you’re getting caught up in the streets, you’ll round a bend, and catch a whack of Ben Bulben. You’ll see a car with surfboards on the roof, headed for Strandhill, Enniscrone or Streedagh. By then, I’m reckoning, Sligo will have gotten under your skin.
There’s no shortage of places to stay in Sligo. A raft of three and four star hotels, and sumptuous country houses like Coopershill, Temple House and Cromleach Lodge reflect the county’s popularity with visitors of all hues. Bundoran is only up the road, too.
I stayed at the Radisson Blu, overlooking Sligo Bay on the road to Rosses Point. It’s a long structure, with two chateau-style wings sprouting from a core stone building, the former Ballincar House, which was re-born as the four-star Radisson in 2006.
The lobby is slick, as you’d expect of a Radisson, and there’s an atmospheric spa and an 18m swimming pool for that wallowing, holiday feeling. Service was solid — the receptionist remained cool, despite a boisterous student ball bearing down on his head. I also liked the business class concept, which offers larger rooms with extras like bathrobes and slippers, Wi-Fi, a Nespresso machine, newspaper and pass for the thermal suite for an extra fee.
My own room was grand, with a rusty red throw picking up colours in the desk chair, a comfy pillow-top mattress, a powerful shower and mosaic bathroom tiles splashed with mother-of-pearl.
There were, however, a smattering of scuffs and stains that undercut the look and feel of the space — basic wear and tear that should never be allowed to develop.
My first stop was Source Sligo, a funky restaurant, wine bar and cookery school set over three stories at the heart of the town. As its name suggests, local produce is favoured — dishes include a Five Mile Town goat’s cheese parfait, for instance, or a pan-roasted breast of Gerard McGuirk’s chicken, served with butter braised carrots, Burgundy jus, and fondant potato. Yum.
Another new development pulls a focus on Tobergal Lane. Bistro Bianconi recently moved here from Main Street, and has been joined by a bakery-cum-deli-cum-wine-bar, A Casa Mia, and Gulliver’s restaurant. Could the “piazza amongst the puddles” — as someone called it — be the first signs of emerging Italian Quarter off the Garavogue River? They even have a gift voucher, redeemable in all three restaurants, and I’m told a gelateria is in the works...
Two other tips come in the shape of old-school pubs. The first is Hargadon’s, where you’ll find quality food and wine dished up amongst the creamy pints and whispery snugs. The second is the thatched Beach Bar on Aughris Head, perfect for ducking into after a walk along the Atlantic coast.
Looking out on Dunmoran Strand, it’s the dictionary definition of cosiness.
You won’t be stuck for action in Sligo. You could just as easily arrive here with a surfboard strapped to the roof, or with a mission to take in the Children’s Book Festival at The Model (Mar 5-8; themodel.ie), some of the locations from Yeats’s poetry (Ben Bulben, Lough Gill or Dooney Rock) or Beckett’s Endgame at The Factory (Mar 6-16; blueraincoat.com).
Taken together with drives like the Gleniff Horseshoe, the N15 north towards Donegal town, or a loop of the Slieve League Peninsula, this is a real alternative to well beaten tracks like The Ring of Kerry. Throw in seaweed baths, 30 megalithic tombs and three theatre companies, and you’ve got the makings of a hell of a weekend. Arise and go now... and all that.
For more on Sligo, see the fab new website sligotourism.ie.
The Radisson Blu has three nights plus one dinner (midweek), or two weekend nights with one dinner, both from €125pp. A family package bundling one surf lesson, two nights’ B&B and one dinner for two adults and two children costs €368.
Contact 071-9140008 or visit radissonblu.ie/hotel-sligo.
You’ve got to hand it to a destination enthusiastic enough to keep turning out creative ideas and good craic during what has been an exhausting recession all round.
Big wave surfing competitions, an Italian Quarter, food emporiums and a kids’ book festival...
Sligo has come up with them all since the country went bust. Combined with a cool coastline and awesome landscape, you’ve got any number of reasons to visit.
Confronted with this kind of wave, I’ll stand my ground.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
