The Barony of Erris is a craggy promontory perched on the edge of Europe
in the most far-flung corner of Co. Mayo.
It boasts some of the most eye-catching scenery in Mayo and Ireland –
and that’s saying something!
The
region is still one of the most sparsely populated in western Europe and
as such it is a land of big, turbulent skies and wind-blasted bogs.
Blessed with a cultural heritage stretching back more than 5,000 years,
residents of the Barony can boast (and frequently do) that Mayo people were
farming there before the Egyptian pyramids were even thought of.
During the Great Hunger, this Gaeltacht area was one of the hardest hit.
If scenery, prehistoric archaelogy and Famine history are not your bag,
there’s still plenty to keep a person amused in Erris.
But perhaps the greatest diversion the region has to offer is its fishing.
Whether it’s deep-sea angling, or fishing the shores and rivers, Erris
brings its fishermen back year after year — so much so that some have even
bought their own houses in the Barony.
Erris is reached from the east by crossing the Musical Bridge at Bellacorick.
It has a peculiar resonance in its limestone walls which allow it to be
played, literally like a huge xylophone.
It should be apparent to any traveller after that they’re entering a
place where the rules of everyday life don’t necessarily apply with the
same rigour.
Bangor Erris is a small town on the crossroads between Westport to the
south and Belmullet to the west but it is much more than just a staging
post, it is also a Mecca for fly-fishermen from throughout Europe.
The Owenmore River runs along the edge of the town and its private fisheries
are renowned for salmon and sea trout.
Carrowmore Lake is about three kilometres outside the town and both boats
and gillies are available in Bangor.
The season on the lake opens on February 1 and the river on March 1.
A ticket for a day's fishing on the river costs €30 while a day on the lake
costs €15.
Seamus Henry, the fisheries manager of Bangor Angling Club and owner
of The West End Bar said: “Fishing on the river is very popular and the
summer months are usually booked up long before Christmas. Spring fishing
runs from the beginning of the season until about mid-May and it’s easier
to get fishing in that period.”
Fishing with baits and lures is strictly prohibited on the Owenmore —
this is a river for fly-fishermen so break out the old split cane rod and
have a rummage in the tackle box for the Silver Doctor and the Green Olive.
Anyone interested in booking a day’s fishing on the River Ownenmore or
Carrowmore Lake can contact Seamus on 00 353 97 83487 or fax 00 353 97 83543.
There are a number of good B&Bs in the Bangor area. Two that spring to
mind are Evelyn Cosgrove’s Hillcrest House (003 53 97 83494) and Des and
Eileen O’Rourke’s (00 353 97 83039).
Sea angling is another popular pastime in Erris and there are several
ports that offer fishing during the summer season which lasts from May to
September.
At the last count, there were about 40 species of fish to be found off
the north Mayo coast and believe me, I’ve tried to catch all of them.
Perhaps the largest visitor known to the waters is the basking shark,
a harmless plankton-eater up to 15 metres in length. But, unfortunately,
one hasn’t been spotted for a couple of years now according to Michael John
Nallen of the Belmullet Sea Angling Club.
He said: “But you still get plenty of blue sharks weighing anything up
to 85 pounds.”
The Sea Angling Club in Belmullet runs about three competitions annually
and next year, the club hopes to hold the Irish Master Angler contest.
Charter boats, mainly trawlers, cost about €150 a day to hire and take
between six and eight anglers. Anglers are advised to bring their own lifejackets
and a passing knowledge of Irish would help!
For more information on sea angling contact Michael John Nallen on 00
353 97 82093.
But aside from fishing what does Erris have to offer? Surely the dedicated
angler dragging his family out to the wild west should find something for
his kith and kin to do while he relaxes on the river bank, lazes on the
lake or sojourns at sea as he makes up the stories he’ll later tell in the
pub.
During the summer, when the weather smiles on it, the beaches in Erris
have few rivals. But let’s be honest, anyone going to north Mayo specifically
in search of good weather is not even barking up the wrong tree, they’re
not even in the right forest.
Summertime is, in any event, festival time in north Mayo and the Logha
on August 15 in Belmullet is the daddy of these hoolies. It translates as
the time of indulgence and there’s no false advertising there.
It is also the time that most Erris people choose to come home from England
and America as is evidenced by the proliferation of cars with English registrations
that line the streets.
Other festivals worth taking in are the Geesala Festival — also in August
— and the Erris International Folk Festival in July.
Geesala, as the literati will doubtless tell you, is where playwright
John Millington Synge set his classic Playboy of the Western World. And,
in a nod to the ending of that great play, one of the highpoints of the
Festival is a horserace on the strand at Doolough.
Few sights can compare with six horses racing along a glittering beach
while a carnival atmosphere reigns in the dunes with fairground rides, a
beer tent and a bookies’ ring.
For information, phone: 00 353 97 86742.
The big names for the International Folk Festival this year include the
poet Paul Durkan and leading accordion-player Sharon Shannon. For more information
check out their website:
www.feileiorrais.org.
And there’s more of course. Well worth a visit are the prehistoric Céide
Fields and the wild salmon smokery of Eamonn Holmes in Dahoma.
For the more energetic there is the Bangor Trail originally travelled
by Famine emigrants heading across the mountains for Westpost and America.
Erris continues to amaze and surprise its visitors. There’s certainly nothing barren about the Barony.
The
region is still one of the most sparsely populated in western Europe and
as such it is a land of big, turbulent skies and wind-blasted bogs.
