It was the playground of my youth and now an international walkway. The Wild Atlantic is the Way to go in Portnoo who Noo?
Portnoo in south Donegal in north-west of Ireland is famed for its Blue Flag beach and is stop 10 on your Way.
It was something, of course, we lapped up, city dwellers from a grey post-industrial city in Glasgow.
To have 2km of beach stretched out before us just outside our boarding house.
And with rocky pools to explore for a child with an overactive imagination.
And a new friend, and a girl at that, my parents could relax, knowing I was safe, happy and getting exercise.
While they got some adult time with Helen’s parents, Paddy and Sheila.
Who would come to this bolthole from The Troubles from their home in Belfast.
A Donegal Fáilte
And so a lifetime friendship was forged for my parents.
Which is often the way that we form those bonds through parents of our children.
We have, of course, been back time and time again.
And when I took the plunge and introduced my English rose of a wife to Ireland it was to Portnoo that we came to stay.
Although alas not Shovlin’s Guest House which had long since passed taking visitors and become a private house.
Instead we took a cottage which gave me that authentic peat-burning experience.
I remembered from trips to my grandparents in nearby Brockagh, my mum’s homestead.
But alas it is another pleasure denied us now but which we got the most out of in our 13 years in Greystones, Co. Wicklow.
An island of adventures
Today as we return her to the Donegal sod on our final journey together we relive old memories on Portnoo beach.
And look out to Iniskhkeel, an island you can walk out to at low tide.
And which holds monastery ruins, again just what an adventurous kid in the middle of his Enid Blyton Secret Seven phase, can absorb.
Trek the 2km walk along the beach and you will arrive at the charming village of Narin.
And don’t be surprised if you bump into parties of international trekkers.
As the Wild Atlantic is the Way to go in Portnoo… who Noo?
Dip your toe in
Local kids and big kids still flock to Narin jetty to jump in the North Atlantic Ocean, though not for this landlubber.
For more grown-up pastimes the Portnoo golf club draws back international visitors.
It is a course I have not played since childhood and never will such is the state of my game.
So I guess I won’t find out if they still have the electrical surround around some greens to put off wandering cows.
The best Mum bar none
We are off on our wanders too and we will take in Mum’s childhood home, McNulty’s Bar in Brockagh, now The Ramblers.
And be welcomed with open arms by today’s hosts, Con, and a tray of teas, bran and sandwiches.
The suitcases are assembled in the foyer of our hotel, another family go-to, Kee’s of Stranorlar.
To be transported to a next stop.
For me, it’s an EasyJet flight back from Belfast to Edinburgh and North Berwick and cold reality.
While walkers continue their trek down from the Inishowen Peninsula to Kinsale in Co.Cork, all 2,600s down the west of Ireland.
For Mum, though, this is where she leaves us.
MEET YOU ON THE ROAD
