Ballyliffin

The Tide is Out

We were looking for a weekend break as a getaway while we were covered at home so signed up to GroupOn and one of the offers that came up was a 2-night stay in Ballyliffin. For some reason - despite all our travels in the Kerryvan and even from when we lived near Omagh we had never been to Inishowen. Even worse was when our eldest was born, a work colleague took a photo of a memorial attached to an old school-house commemorating the legendary Niall of the Nine Hostages and I never visted the place to see it for real.

So off we headed from Donaghadee to Ballyliffin on a cold, blowy wintery January Friday.

The Strand Hotel was definitely warm and welcoming when we arrived and true to its name, it is situated more or less on the strand. For us a short walk down a lane though in the summer - when we suspected the place was at its best - there is maybe a short-cut through the hotel's rear garden.

Ballyliffin Beach

The strand is huge and quite typical for Donegal, wonderful clear water, huge beach backed by small dunes and the bay enclosed by a pair of promentories at either end. Not surprisingly, it was empty when we were there but its hard to imagine it ever getting unbearably busy given its size. Even on this cold, winter's day it was glorious to be there below the huge sky breathing in the ozone.

Back in the hotel and everyone was playing the "spot-the-groupon-guest" game; apart from those having a post-funeral sup. The village isn't much to talk about, 50-50 holiday homes and locals, one shop and petrol station, one pub and 5 hotels! Two of the hotels are huge so this must be a very popular resort come the summer-time. For us, the Guinness was good and the food not bad at all; this was shaping up to be a terrific weekend.