It’s a bit of a journey to get to the island as the drive alone from Galway takes the best part of an hour and 30 minutes. We drove via the coast road due to (at time of writing) road works on the N59 at Maam Cross. However, as we set out, the weather is fantastic and Connemara when the suns shines makes for an enjoyable drive.
To get to the island, you have to take the ferry that departs from the tiny fishing village of Cleggan, about a 15 minute drive from the Connemara capital, Clifden. Cleggan is a delightful little spot but given the current climate is pretty sleepy except for the daily ferry service and a little pop up café called The Sea Hare.
Once we arrived at Cleggan, we parked the car, there are several options for parking – we parked just on the outskirts of the village which is less than a five minute walk away. As we had arrived early, we grabbed a coffee and some cake in The Sea Hare. The Sea Hare is actually a big deal, they won “pop up restaurant of the year” in 2019 and deservedly so, they keep their menu simple, usually just four or five choices along with some cakes. Everything is locally sourced and they also do a supper club, usually once every two or three weeks. We had eaten here several weeks previous and it was tasty.
After a coffee and some raspberry and polenta cake, we strolled along the pier to await our ferry. Of course, in true Irish’ness, our ticket time says departing at 1:00pm, but the actual departure time is 2:00pm, thankfully though, it’s a fabulous day so we don’t mind the wait.
Our ferry arrived and we boarded for the short 30 minute trip out to the island. The journey was smooth all the way and the scenery was impressive. Once on the Island, we set about getting some lunch so we made our way to the Murray’s Doonmore hotel which is just 1km from the pier. The place was busy and we managed to get the last bench outside in the sun.
We ordered some food and some drinks, wine for C and a stout for myself, to eat C went with what they called the goddess salad, which was basically cos lettuce with capers and feta cheese. Scallops were also ordered along with a seafood chowder for myself and a toasty sambo of cheese, onion, ham and tomato. We did not have high expectations for the food – and rightfully so, it was not the best, but hey, we’re not here for the culinary aspect, we’re here to enjoy a place that time has all but passed by….and the view ain’t too bad either 🙂
After lunch, we walked back towards the pier and onwards to our digs for the next two nights. When booking the trip, accommodation was in short supply, in part due to Covid-19, as a few places made the tough decision not to open for the season, add to this, the place been busy and you get the picture. So I booked pretty much the only place left on the Island a small B&B called St. Ellens.
St. Ellens is less than a ten minute walk from the pier and on arrival we were greeted by the lady of the house who was very friendly, a tad quirky, but welcoming. Our room is a decent size along with a decent size bathroom.
After a brief look around the room, we dropped the bags and made our way back along the road and popped into a bike hire shop of sorts and picked ourselves up two bikes for the next 24 hours or so. Once on our bikes, we made our way back towards the pier to the small shop which is basically a portacabin and grabbed some water and then popped into the tiny Inishbofin museum, which was about the size of our accommodation room 🙂
It was now time to hit the road proper. The island is perfect for cycling, as long as you don’t mind a few hills every now and again. Cars are few and far between so no need to worry about traffic – you don’t even need a lock to lock your bike.
We made our way to the south beach which looked inviting but we decided to walk the length of it with a plan for a swim the next day. After a nice stroll, we continued along the east side of the island passing what’s known as the East Village – very different from the East Village in NY 🙂
As time was getting on, we took a slightly shorter loop road back towards the pier, then back to our B&B. We had about an hour to pass before dinner which I had booked before we arrived in the Dolphin hotel so we just caught up on some reading and writing.
On a side note, we asked ourselves the question – what are the chances we’d bump into someone we’d know. We both thought – nil … until we spotted someone we knew and had a quick chat with them – it’s a small world 🙂
As it turned out the Dolphin is just a two minute walk up the road from our B&B which was handy. The Dolphin is the second largest hotel on the island and the dining room has large windows offering some nice views out to the surrounding landscape. Once seated, we ordered some drinks, wine for C and a really nice craft cider for myself.
The menu read pretty well, they had most bases covered including vegetarian and vegan options. Having been disappointed with lunch earlier, I was still hopeful of having a decent seafood chowder so I ordered that to start, C went with the slow roasted pork belly. For mains, I went with the lamb rump and C the pollock.
The pork came with a sorrel sauce, an apple and raisin chutney and some pickled veg, it was really tasty, the pork had a really nice char on the outside and super tender inside. Thankfully my chowder was also really nice and the homemade treacle bread was tasty.
By the time our mains arrived, the restaurant had filled up, so luckily we had booked our table as a walk-in may not have been possible.
Our mains arrived, the pollock came with herb gnocchi and mussels, my lamb came with ceps, chard, celeriac and a side of potatoes. The pollock was nicely cooked and the dish overall was tasty, however, my lamb was outstanding, perfectly cooked, the ceps and chard were well-seasoned, the celeriac brought a nice sweetness to the dish and the jus while a tad on the salty side, was flavoursome.
For kicks, we shared a classic dessert – a banoffee pie, which was nothing special but it was nice to finish the meal with something sweet.
After finishing up our drinks, we made our way back to the B&B and as there are no street lights on the island and it was a perfectly clear night, the stars looked amazing and it was really easy to pick out the milky way – a nice end to the evening.
The following morning, we got up and had breakfast and afterwards, we grabbed the bikes and hit the road. It was obvious that things on the island move slow, most places don’t open until around 11:00am (ish) and even then, they may decide to open later. The church had just opened as we arrived back down towards the pier so we popped in for a quick look.
We then headed towards the…..airport?!? Yes, the island has an airport, rather an airstrip, after completion about 20 or so years ago and for whatever reason, no planes were ever allowed to land there…. it’s an Irish thing I’m guessing!?!
Anyhow, we just wanted to see it, it is sort of funny seeing this surprisingly long runway, completely overgrown. After we headed towards the west of the Island and continued along one of the small roads before coming to a gate and turnstile. So we left the bikes at the gate and continued along on foot. Off in the distance you can clearly see Inishark island which the last residents left back in 1965. Although it’s not inhabited now, you can charter a boat to go across for a wander around.
We continued along the trail and our plan for later that evening was to go back to the south beach for a swim, that was until we came across this….
A spectacular looking beach below the cliff and bar two surfers and one or two people walking it was all but empty.
For now though, we continued our walk enjoying the scenery and the fantastic weather. Once we were almost as far west as you can go, we had several choices, retrace our steps back, continue around the island or go back over the highest point on the island, which is what we did and from the top there was some amazing views.
After enjoying the view, we made our way back down, after all lunch time was beckoning and there was someplace very different we wanted to try for lunch….
Inniswallah, get your head around this, an island off the west coast of Co.Galway, a double decker bus converted to a food truck, selling Indian-inspired fare, where else would you get it. The name is a combination of two things, “Innis” obviously refers to the island and “wallah” is an Asian term that basically means someone involved with a business or something specific, such as chaiwallah, shoewallah etc….
The menu is just over the pass – there’s about eight different choices and everything read really well. C opted for the lamb meatballs and I went with the black bean and beetroot burger. As expected, everything had a little “kick” to it. The meatballs were meaty and just a tad spicy, served with a very tasty green salad with toasted pumpkin seeds, along with homemade slaw, spicy yogurt and some coriander all served in a ciabatta style bun. The burger came with the same green salad, coriander chutney, pickled cabbage, spiced yogurt and some chilies served in flatbread. The food was really tasty and filling and something so unexpected was a real treat.
After eating our fill, we headed back towards the pier area to enjoy a coffee and sit and enjoy the view for a bit. After we visited a small gift shop, er, gift wagon where C picked up some greeting cards, we then went to a tiny book store called Harbour Lights and of course C being a huge book fan picked up a “few” books – I even got a book.
For our evening meal, we had planned on dining in the Day’s restaurant (where we got our coffee) but they were full for the evening unless we fancied an earlier sitting at 6:00pm, way too early. We didn’t fancy having food at the Doonmore restaurant again, so we made our way back towards our B&B and chanced booking the Dolphin again where we were the previous night and really liked it – thankfully they were able to squeeze us in at 8:30pm, fantastic.
Once we had sorted our dinner option, we went back to the B&B, grabbed some towels and the swim gear and headed towards the beach. Except for one small group of people and one other person reading a book and soaking up the sun, we had the entire beach to ourselves and we were the only ones swimming, it was fantastic.
After splashing around for about an hour or so, we made our way back to return our bikes. Top tip, while you can easily walk the island, the bikes were really handy as you can go back and over as you please and as I mentioned above you can just leave your bike at the side of the road unlocked while you go for a hike or a swim and you don’t have to worry about it.
All that was left to do was head back to the B&B to relax for a while before heading out for dinner. Before dinner though we walked back into the centre and took a few more photos before making our way back to the Dolphin for our evening meal.
Like the previous night the restaurant was busy, keeping it simple I opted for the steak and C had the fish, both were tasty. We decided to forgo dessert on this occasion.
After dinner, we had one last drink before heading back to the B&B. The following morning we had breakfast and we were informed we could check out at any time before 5:00pm which was handy so we just left the bags and went for a walk down towards the beach and the east village. Our ferry was departing at 1:00pm so all we’d left to do was pick up the bags at the B&B and head back to the pier to catch the ferry back to the mainland.
Once back at Cleggan, we had lunch in the Sea Hare which was simple but tasty, I had the spicy tomato soup along with the mezze board and C opted for the roast pepper tart.
To finish. We really enjoyed our time on the island and we can certainly see ourselves returning at a later date. Two nights is plenty, however, if you really want to get away from the day to day grind, then we could both see how you could happily spend a week or longer as it is so peaceful.
Until next time,
C&J
cjfoodandtravel 