Achill Island is a very interesting place with gorgeous beaches, deserted famine villages and a megalithic tomb. As we were intent on reaching the summit of Slievmore, we did not concern ourselves with other activities. If we have time, we would like to revisit Achill Island.
The walk started at the beautiful Silver Strand beach. We were not entirely certain of the route up the mountain, as one had to just take off across the heather and walk along a ridge, next to crags which dropped off rather dramatically.
The trail was described as intermittent, and it certainly was. We ended up weaving our way up the steep heather slope until we intersected a trail that seemed to fade off every now and then. There were a lot of random sheep trails all over the mountain, but the sheep were grazing on the lower slope. The going was pretty good, but when we got to the first rock outcrop high up, we watched a big squall coming at us from the Atlantic. We decided to wait it out on the edge of a cliff out of the wind and rain to see what happened. The major concern when hiking in Ireland, is the mist that can come upon you in minutes, which can leave the best of navigators disoriented.
We had a steep section ahead of us to gain the summit, but it was only another 600 feet, so we certainly did not want to stop climbing as we had gained around 1600 feet already. There was sunshine after the squall passed so we sped to the summit.
The views from the summit were breathtaking, the landscape is beautiful and the views of the land and the Atlantic are panoramic. It gave us the feeling of standing on top of the world, as the birds and a coast guard helicopter were all well below us. However, another squall was heading straight for us, so we sat behind a pile of rocks that had been stacked up. This sheltered us from the squall, which pelted us with hail. Every summit we have stood on in Ireland has been extremely windy. We sat with the hail at our backs and sipped our warm tea, which tasted fantastic, given the cold conditions.
We waited out the squall and after it passed we headed down. We were shocked at how steep this mountain was, as we zoomed up in 1.5 hours. You have to be tough to hike in Ireland, the mountains are not high by our standards, but the Irish boot it straight up with no switch-backs and no real trails. The elevation gain is not great, as this was 2200 feet, but the gain is completed in a fairly short distance of 3 km.
For the first time ever, it took us as long to get down the mountain as it did to go up. The descent was wickedly treacherous due to the wet conditions, and negotiating grass and heather is like walking on ice as you tend to slide. John and I just about crashed and burned about a hundred times on the descent, but we managed to stay upright. The other issue is that our hiking poles kept on getting stuck, as the ground is saturated and boggy so the poles sink. Just when we needed a pole for stability it would be stuck, and the few microseconds lost in yanking out the pole, just about caused a spill.
A few more squalls came through while we hiked down, but they were not as severe as the one at the summit. When we finally reached sea level, the sun was out for a short time. We had the entire mountain to ourselves today, other than the grazing sheep.
After our gruelling walk, we stopped off in a small village for a cappuccino in the usual café with busy staff, serving up fine looking sandwiches and pots of tea. Then it started to pour rain, a cold front has come in and the temperature plunged today, it is to be cold and wet tonight and tomorrow.
On the drive home, we came within inches of taking out a rogue sheep which decided to dart directly across the highway right in front of the car. I thought its arse was going to be imbedded into the grill of our micro car.
Our destination, the far right peak
The steep and slippery heather slope
Incredible views
Keel Lough and the Atlantic
Village on Atlantic coast
Squall after it hailed on us
Silver Strand and Golden Strand beaches
Coastline view
The History of Ireland continues and it gets political...
In the 1870s, there was a depression in agriculture, this caused a backlash among Irish farmers against Irish landowners. The farmers refused to pay rents until prices improved and they became politicized and felt that they were the true owners of the land. They organized a Land League. A series of government acts over a period of years resulted in the British government buying out the landowners, and distributing the land to tenant farmers. However, all others were excluded from the deal: townspeople, immigrants and labourers got nothing, this led to continued high levels of emigration.
In 1800, Ulster had been opposed to the union; however, the resurgence in Catholicism, the joining of the Presbyterians and the Protestants and the economic progress in Ulster as a commercial and manufacturing economy, turned the Protestants into pro Unionists who would resist Home Rule by force, if necessary.
They became known as Unionists and they felt that they were a settler people who cared more for Ulster than for anything, and Home Rule would destroy everything they and their ancestors had worked for. A cultural identity developed in Ulster, they believed they were a people separate from the rest of Ireland. The Protestants had a small majority in Ulster, but were a large majority in Belfast, where there was a residential split between Protestant and Catholic. The Catholics were marginalised and under represented in the commercial and the industrial economy. The Orange Order was vigilant and ready to oppose Home Rule strongly. Belfast would be the core of the resistance to Home Rule.
Violence was to become ever-present in the affairs of Ireland. The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) formed in 1913 and became heavily armed with German weapons in 1914. In response to the UVF, the Irish Volunteers (IV) formed in nationalist Ireland. 30,000 members of the UVF formed the 36th Ulster Division which fought in WWI. A Home Rule bill passed in the British Parliament in 1914, but it was not to be implemented until after WWI; Ulster would not be a part of the Home Rule bill, the partitioning of Ireland from Northern Ireland had begun.
Easter Rising of 1916
The Easter Rising was organized by the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB). They were to secure weapons from the Germans, but the ship was scuttled near Cork to avoid capture by the British. A nationwide Volunteer mobilization was called for, but one of the leaders countermanded the order on Easter Sunday, the rising would be confined to Dublin. There was pressure to complete the rising prior to the end of WWI, while the British were fighting in Belgium and France. The leadership decided to go ahead with the rising on Easter Monday, even though the rising would clearly not succeed.
The rising was carried out by 1500 Volunteers, with the assistance of a few hundred of the Irish Citizen Army. They planned to seize a number of public buildings in Dublin and to declare an Irish Republic. The rising was put down by British soldiers on leave from WWI; many of whom, were Irish. Vicious street fighting ensued for three to four days, after which, the rebels surrendered. The majority of the people killed were civilians, numbering 254, along with 64 rebels and 132 soldiers.
Public opinion was firmly against the rising, but this was swayed to support for the rising, after 15 rebels (mostly Catholics) were executed after receiving dodgy trials, along with the round up of thousands of suspects. The Irish Parliamentary Party held the seats in the British Parliament at this time; they should have walked out of the British Parliament over the handling of the rising, but did not. This damaged the Irish Parliamentary Party to a great degree, the suspects that were jailed, began to organize themselves while in prison, and upon release, they joined the Sinn Fein party.
In 1916, Home Rule was granted to Ireland, but it excluded the six counties in the northeast. In 1918, the British tried to enforce conscription for WWI in Ireland. The Irish Parliamentary Party withdrew from the British Parliament in protest and joined Sinn Fein in opposition to conscription. In the 1918 elections in Ireland, Sinn Fein won the majority of seats, but they would not sit in the British Parliament. Instead, they met in Dublin, set up a Dail, or parliament, and declared independence. A group of the Irish Volunteers, soon to be known as the IRA, killed two police constables in Tipperary, this sent a strong message that violence would be used in support of the Irish Parliament declarations.
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