Page 209 - (DK Eyewitness) Back Roads Travel Guide - Ireland

DRIVE 20: Legends and Lakes 207

views over Sligo and the surrounding
five counties.
ª Return to the R292 and turn
left. Continue straight on at the
roundabout to Carrowmore. Park
in the car park.
q Carrowmore Megalithic
Cemetery
Co Sligo
The largest megalithic burial
ground in Ireland, Carrowmore is
also one of the most significant
sites of its kind in Europe. There
are in excess of 60 tombs here – a Above The River Ballysadare and Lough
fascinating mixture of small passage- ª Cross the bridge and turn right Easkey are popular with anglers
tombs and dolmens (a type of onto the N59 for Ballina. Pass a turn
single-chamber tomb enclosed by for Glen Wood to the left, good for
boulders). Some archaeological walks and picnics. Continue on the
research suggests that Carrowmore’s N59 until a signpost for Easkey. Turn
oldest tombs are more than 5,000 right here, onto the R297.
years old. The visitor centre (Apr–Oct
daily; last admission 5pm) offers e Easkey
informative guided tours of the Co Sligo
cemetery in season. The small village of Easkey and
ª Turn right out of the car park and the slightly larger seaside resort
right again. Return to the R292 and of Enniscrone (also Innishcrone),
turn left. Turn right onto the N59 and further around the coast, are set
continue straight on into Ballysadare. on a beautiful rocky shoreline. The
Park in the centre of the village. main attraction here is the surfing SURFING AT EASKEY
(see right) and the Irish Surfing
Association is based here. Enniscrone Easkey Surf Information Centre is
has a sweeping 3-km (2-mile) Blue based on Main Street and posts daily
Flag beach. Other attractions there surf reports on its noticeboard (096
include Kilcullen’s Seaweed Baths 49020; easkeyhouse@yahoo.com).
(www.kilcullenseaweedbaths.net), Lessons are also available from the
Seventh Wave Surf School in Easkey
established in 1912, and proud and Enniscrone (087 971 6389;
of its Edwardian ambience, and www.surfsligo.com).
Enniscrone Golf Course.
ª From Easkey or Enniscrone follow
the R297 south towards Newtown. EAT AND DRINK AT
After Newtown turn onto the N59 STRANDHILL
and continue for Ballina.
The Venue inexpensive–moderate
A traditional-style pub and a large,
Queen Maeve of Connaught friendly restaurant, with everything
Maeve (or Medbh), the Celtic from shrimp to steaks, make this a
popular spot in Strandhill.
warrior Queen of Connaught, was Top Road; 071 916 8167;
Above View from Knocknarea, the last resting a character in the mythological www.venuestrandhill.ie
tale The Táin. Although she was
place of the legendary Queen Maeve powerful, she was jealous of The Strand Bar & Restaurant
her husband Ailill’s white bull. moderate
w Ballysadare Searching for an equal, she found A lively bar, popular with surfers,
Co Sligo the Brown Bull of Cooley in Ulster. serves bar meals all day and has live
music at weekends. Upstairs, a separate
This picturesque village, where the But its owners refused to lend it to restaurant, the Jade Garden serves
River Ballysadare flows into the sea is her, so she and her army invaded Chinese and Thai food in elegant
Ulster and stole it. Legend says that
a prime location for salmon fishing. when she got the bull home, it surroundings. There is also a seafood
W B Yeats spent a lot of time in this fought and killed her husband’s restaurant, Trà Ban, on the premises.
area as a child and it is believed to white bull and then died on its Strand Bar: 071 916 8140;
www.thestrandbar.ie
have inspired his poem Down by the way home to Ulster. Jade Garden: 071 916 8935
Sally Gardens. Trà Ban: 071 912 8402
Eat and Drink: inexpensive, under €25; moderate, €25–€50; expensive, over €50
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