On the wettest of wettest bank holiday Mondays we made our way south from Belleek towards Westport. We did consider staying put for a day, rather than have a rainy journey, but on balance we wanted a change of scene, and a better dog-walking situation than Belleek had.

So we opted for an inland route and went through Foxbar and Castlebar, and entered Westport, found a parking space, and did some essential shopping. Then we found our way to the campsite, and settled in to our pitch in increasing winds. The campsite was emptying as we watched, people who had come for the holiday weekend were leaving early. We put our roof up, as usual, but soon decided to keep it down as the gusts were fierce. The rain eased a bit in the afternoon and we took the dog for a walk through the grounds of Westport House into town. Westport is a lovely wee town, all quirky shops and old buildings and monuments. Hardly had we got back then the rain set in again with a vengeance. Truly, we lead a charmed life!

On Tuesday morning we packed up, as the forecast looked a bit more encouraging, and headed north west to Achill Island, connected to the mainland by a bridge. We were rewarded by splendid landscape and seascapes, huge sandy bays and angular mountains, with a surprising number of small villages and settlements along the way. We chose Dugort, the more northerly of the two campsites, famous for the cottage which the German novelist Heinrich Böll lived in for a time. It was next to a good beach, and not far from pub. Great, we thought, we'll eat there tonight, save us cooking. After all, we have been away for a fortnight now, and apart from eating on the ferry we have not eaten out once! The campsite was mostly static caravans with absentee owners, but there was a lively group of kayakers based in a bunch of tents, who turned out to be French. They occupied the food preparation come TV room a lot of the time, and as that is the only place on the campsite that wifi is possible, I joined them in there for a while, and found myself in deep conversations about how much peat cutting there still is in Ireland, and how at this rate it will all run out in twenty years, and what did it all mean? A bit deep, I thought, as I tried to simply catch up with my email in a corner. But I was plied with biscuits and chocolate and they were really nice people.

At six thirty we left the dog happy in the van after his dinner, and went to the pub. A notice on the door which we had not seen as we passed indicated that food was available on Tuesdays only until 6pm. We went in anyway and had a drink, in a huge bar with barely half a dozen people in it, and then came back to the van for standby dinner! I wouldn't have minded, but there were huge placards outside the pub advertising their wonderful seafood menu! Ah well, we ate well anyway later in the van with salmon, new potatoes, green beans and baby corn, followed by yogurt.

We are both deeply saddened by the news of the untimely death of Charles Kennedy, a politician of true integrity and a fine man. Scotland and Westminster will be the poorer for his loss.

We decided to stay here for a couple of nights anyway, and explore the area a bit on foot. Wednesday dawned sunny and much less windy. The kayakers have gone.

Here is a photo of the sunset on Wednesday, after a fine sunny day.