John Creedon take on the Wild Atlantic Way in epic roadtrip

From a sunken pirate ship with a cargo of 400-year-old coconuts to afternoon tea with a movie star in his castle, broadcaster John Creedon’s three-month trek along Ireland’s coast was both wild and wonderful.

Of course, it being the Irish coast, meant it wasn’t all fun in the sun: Creedon’s hippie-era VW camper van broke down in Kinvara when the clutch cable gave up the ghost, and he ran out of petrol in Achill, because the VW’s fuel gauge wasn’t working.

Needless to say, he got well and truly soaked on more than one occasion.

However, the great thing is, the rest of us get to enjoy this epic road trip, in his new series Creedon’s Wild Atlantic Way, which begins on RTÉ One next Sunday.

As the iconic cream-and-green 1960s VW camper van — nicknamed the ‘Seanvan’ by Creedon after the old Irish song An tSean Bhean Bocht’ (“like myself she’s got a few miles on the clock and like myself she’s built for comfort, not speed”) — makes its way along the Wild Atlantic Way from Mizen Head to Malin Head, Creedon meets a variety of colourful characters.

There’s tea and biscuits and a talk about the region’s delicate ecosystem with Jeremy Irons in his West Cork castle, a music session with renowned singer Seamus Begley, a hair-raising ride in the Dursey Cable Car — which comes equipped with a bottle of holy water for nervous passengers — not to mention star-watching in Kerry’s Dark Star Reserve, as Creedon makes his way along what is actually the world’s longest defined coastal route.

“If you want to really know the Wild Atlantic Way,” Irons tells Creedon, “you have to stop the car, probably come on a bicycle, and really follow your nose, because the secret places are always on the seaside, because the coast is such that you won’t have the main road clinging to the coast, you’ve gotta walk, or you have to cycle.

“This is gold-dust and should be dealt with really carefully, with great intelligence, because it is one of the last remaining wild outposts of Europe.”

Then, there’s the Irish Lights helicopter ride out to see the Fastnet Lighhouse to meet former lighthouse attendant Neilly O’Reilly, a visit which almost became a short stay after heavy fog delayed the return of the helicopter.

“The visibility got very poor and the chopper couldn’t take off for the return journey, but it was just a few hours,” says Creedon, who describes the trip to the Fastnet as an “absolutely stunning” experience.

Still in West Cork, he gets to visit a sunken pirate ship, believed to have been owned by a notorious Dutch pirate who was shipwrecked 400 years ago, replete with musket shot, coconuts, pottery and olive jars.

The programme — which is also available on RTÉ Player International — also brings us currach racing and snorkelling in Co Clare, while Creedon also helps an American tracing his roots.

There’s an hilarious horse-riding episode in Leitrim, where he recalls the legacy of the county’s native son and showband-era star Larry Cunningham.

The sea is Creedon’s highway and he travels by ferry and currach, as well as by helicopter, and light aircraft, while he meets probably the world’s only postman to travel to work by cable car, as he seeks to discover why this beautiful yet savage landscape exerts such a hold on us.

The series also features a stunning Summer Solstice sunrise near Malin Head in Donegal and a boat trip with Donegal actor Sean McGinley.

Ireland’s wild west has drawn people to its coastline for centuries, from early Christians monasteries to the Viking raiders. It also witnessed the tyranny of the Cromwellian era, the heartache of the famine and the scourge of emigration.

Given the growing popularity of the route, Creedon believes it’s time for the government to build a service highway from Letterkenny to Castletownbere, for the people who need to get on with the day-to-day work, but who are currently dependent on the small, winding roads which run the risk of becoming heavily clogged at peak times of the year.

“When I look back at the trip, I think of all the people I met along the way — I’d say I have a couch in every town and village that I could crash on.

“It’s only a few weeks back since I finished the trip and, when I look back, the thing that it’s all about for me is that, despite all the cynicism of modern life, I find people are courteous, mischievous and with a brilliant diversity of accents and I loved the entire experience, but most of all I loved the people.

“I even found my own accent was starting to change as we travelled from one region to the next!”

Creedon’s Wild Atlantic Way airs on RTÉ One on Sunday, July 26, at 6.30pm.