Her.ie’s Ali Donnelly headed to lovely Leitrim and the stunning coast of Sligo last weekend to get away from it all and enjoy some stress-free days with DiscoverIreland.ie.
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“I need to go, I need to get away from everything…” It’s no coincidence that the catchy Remember When is so heavily associated with DiscoverIreland.ie.
Capturing the thrilling and energising side of travelling around our little country but also summarising in that one line the longing everybody feels every once in a while to get away from the daily grind and experience some downtime.
And that is exactly what Discover Ireland asked me to do last weekend…. The Her.ie ‘Get Away From it All’ Weekend.
Her.ie’s Ali and her best mate Emma get set for their road trip…
I managed to convince my bestie that a weekend of pampering and activities was exactly what she needed too, as you can imagine it didn’t take too long! So off we went on Saturday morning armed with directions, a tank full of petrol and an array of 90’s poptastic albums, (the classics, you know?).
How Moooving… The drive to Leitrim was a scenic start to the weekend…
Bopping away in the car we barely noticed the time go by and soon enough we were coming into our first stop, Dromahair Co. Leitrim. Now, I’m from Co. Wicklow, The Garden of Ireland, and I often count myself lucky to live in an area that is so naturally beautiful… But the drive towards Dromahair stunned me. Blessed with beautiful weather, the glassy Lough Gill mirrored the surrounding landscape, a truly breathtaking sight.
Lady of the Lake – Ali posing by the banks of Lough Gill
At 11.30am we arrived at our first stop – Ard Nahoo Eco Retreat. We were greeted by Nicola who told us that she had been living there for four years. Our mini retreat started with Uisce Hour, a 30 minute detox sauna followed by an outdoor hot tub overlooking the Leitrim Mountains. Nicola informed us that the Uisce Hour burns up to 2,400 calories and is the equivalent of a 10K run, excellent stuff. She told us to drink plenty of water and also warned us that after the sauna we would be sweaty. Well, let’s just say she was correct and we have pinky sworn to never speak about our appearance in the sauna that morning. Hopping into a quick cold shower and then the hot tub we were back to our regular non-sweaty selves in no time. The sun was beating down as we lay in the heated water playing with the different jet settings and relaxing in the serene surroundings. After burning so many calories we were delighted to be called into lunch where we enjoyed a mixed orange and fennel salad, organic courgette soup and homemade soda bread. As a lover of good, healthy food I was in heaven. Our last activity in Ard Nahoo was a yoga class, as I focused on my breath, I cleansed my mind and energised my soul, disconnecting me from the outside world to an inner spiritual calm, a perfect end to our short time at Ard Nahoo.
Good for the soul – our girls left Ard Nahoo feeling completely relaxed and refreshed
We hopped in the car feeling rejuvenated, ejected the 90’s mash up CD and set ourselves up with music to suit our mellowed minds. We drove towards Sligo to check in to The Radisson Blu Hotel, which is located in Ballincar. Not ones to lay about, we quickly brought our bags up to our room and made our way around the corner to Rosses Point for a walk. Again, I was taken aback by the scenery, the bay looked beautiful as the sun flickered on the waves and the Benbulban Mountain is unlike any mountain I have ever seen in Ireland.
We returned to our hotel room after sunset hungry to see more of this beautiful county, and actually hungry for dinner too. Hopping into a taxi we headed towards town, Terry our taxi man gave us a few tips of where else to visit, which scenic roads to take and, of course, where to go for a drink after our meal…
Source Sligo is a restaurant, wine bar and cookery school, and it promises to provide honest and wholesome food sourced locally. Not wanting to stuff ourselves before our mains we asked for a ginger and chilli mackerel salad between us to start. Staying with a fish theme, I ordered Sea Bass Fillets for mains. Admittedly, I have been known to gobble down food before I can even taste it, but I savoured each fork-full, pleading with my stomach not to fill up as it would be a shame not to finish it all. And the bestie felt the same, we didn’t notice the complete silence between us as we enjoyed our food, sipping on a Sauvignon Blanc from Source Sligo’s very own vineyard in France. Of course, we couldn’t say no to a bit of dessert either.
Fit for a (Weekend) Warrior – the spread at Source, Sligo
On Terry the taxi-mans advice we headed towards McHugh’s Bar for a few more drinks, jam-packed and obviously a locals’ favourite, and we couldn’t disagree with the locals now could we? Setting ourselves a Cinderella curfew of 12am we wandered on towards Garavogues, where we walked into what seemed like a KISS inspired tribute act covering everything from Abba classics to Video Killed the Radio Star. We may have broken curfew…
I’d like to say we woke on Sunday morning fresh and raring to go, but in reality those Gin & Tonics may have got the better of us. That was soon fixed however, as we feasted on a buffet breakfast in The Radisson Blu, our window seat overlooked the bay and again we lucked out with another beautiful October day.
Blaring the Beach Boys we started on our 50 minute drive to Enniscrone Beach, for our morning of surfing with 7th Wave Surf School. “It’s gonna be freezin’ it’s the feckin’ Atlantic Ocean” was the running theme of our conversation, nonetheless we were both very excited to don our wetsuits and catch a few waves. We arrived at 7th Wave Surf School, a family run business, and were greeted by owner Ger Byrne and our instructor Fionn. All kitted out with our wetsuits and boots, Fionn led us towards the sand on the very same beach where he first learned to surf. After a class on safety and basics we made our way towards the water. Now, this was my first time surfing and I did not expect to be standing on the board by the end of it and of course I had more wipe-outs than successes but, to my surprise, within the first ten minutes I was flying it in the shallow water. Eager for more we paddled out further to sea looking for bigger waves, Fionn gave us a couple of tips and a heads up on which waves to catch (we may have been trying to impress him…). By the end of our lesson I did not want to get out of the water, my hands were a little bit cold but the adrenaline and excitement of riding a wave right into shore left me wanting more.
Surf’s up – Ali & Emma take on the waves in Sligo
We left Enniscrone with a new found love for surfing and rumbling tummys, it was time for lunch. We made our way towards Strandhill, tipped off by the taxi driver from the night before we took the picturesque coast road taking in even more of the beautiful Sligo coast line. We took our time to make sure we didn’t miss a thing but drove particularly slowly through Easkey village keeping an eye out for Chris O’Dowd and Brendan Gleeson as they were filming a sequel to The Guard, but sadly they were nowhere to be found… At least we can say “We were there!” when we see the scenes on the big screen!
Shells Seaside Bakery and Cafe in Strandhill is run by surfers Jane and Myles Lamberth, the pretty and quirky interior reflects the personality of the company and the mantra they live by: “At Shells we love food, we love cafe culture and we love to be a bit different”. Ordering our lunch we quenched our thirst with some refreshing homemade lemonade while flicking through the Surf Cafe Cookbook published by Shell’s Cafe. Our meal was exactly what we needed, good, wholesome and goddamn tasty. The staff were friendly, effortlessly creating a relaxed and happy atmosphere in the seaside cafe. We both agreed, this cafe is a must visit for Sligo tourists.
We didn’t have to go far to our next stop which was next door at Voya Seaweed Baths for a simple and pure organic treatment. My skin is extremely sensitive, I have suffered from bad eczema since I was a child, which seems to always flare around this time of year and so I was quite cynical about if the Seaweed Bath would actually benefit my troublesome skin. After 10 minutes in the steam room I stepped into the hot bath, lay back and let my skin and hair absorb the nourishing oil of the steamed seaweed. For forty minutes I relaxed in the bath to the sound of crashing waves, completely forgetting about the outside world and leaving my worries behind (as a world class worrier this is some accomplishment). When my time was up I examined my arms, a particularly bad spot for my eczema, and I was shocked to see that the dry and aggravated patches had almost disappeared, in less than an hour! I could instantly feel the moisturising benefits for my hair and skin and my mind was clear and invigorated. To be honest, I was tempted to start collecting seaweed from the beach and adding them to a weekly bath but for some reason I don’t think it would have the same effect….
Sink in: The relaxing treat enjoyed by Ali at Voya Seaweed Baths
We finished our evening with a stroll along Strandhill Beach and a takeaway Chai Latte from Shells. We hopped back into the car and drove towards Rosses Point, with a few minutes left before sunset we made the most of our time with another walk along the beach before we returned to The Radisson Blu for dinner.
The final point in the trip – Ali & Emma went for a stroll around Rosses Point
I hadn’t realised how caught up I had become in my Dublin/Wicklow life. Doing the same thing weekend after weekend had become a routine in my life that I had become comfortable with, but where is the adventure in that? My weekend in Sligo and Leitrim made me wake up and take notice of this beautiful island we have, that I’m yet to explore in full! I’ve been to South East Asia, across the USA and hopped around islands in Greece, but I’ve never been to Galway… Now that is something that will have to change….
For more great suggestions on relaxing getaways in Ireland, check out Discover Ireland’s new Autumn Winter brochure. The brochure is available in Discover Ireland Centres nationwide and to download at DiscoverIreland.ie
If you fancy recreating Ali’s relaxing weekend away check out:
- Radisson Blu Sligo – www.radissonblu.ie/hotel-sligo
- Ard Nahoo Eco Retreat – http://www.ardnahoo.com/
- Source Sligo – http://www.sourcesligo.ie/
- 7th Wave Surf School – http://www.surfsligo.com/
- Shells Seaside Bakery & Cafe – http://www.shellscafe.com/
- Voya Seweed Baths – http://www.voyaseaweedbaths.com/
