There was .. a rocky shoreline with a perfect right hand wave mechanically peeling down a point with the classic thatched cottage in the background . Funny thing the internet though, I can see plenty of pictures of Natalie Portman but I don’t know where she lives. This wave is just as beautiful but the walking website doesn’t tell me where it is either. The difference is I won’t get arrested trying to find it, no offence Natalie.
“ From a distance our setup looks like the perfect advert for surf adventure and to explore more’… ”
The only clue to the location lies, perversely for such a perfect wave, in the equally coloured green door of the cottage. Brightly coloured doors are a feature of Irish life. The story goes that after a Royal death the citizens of Ireland were ordered to paint all of their doors black in mourning. The Irish rebelled and painted them as bright and non black as they could and the tradition has stuck much to the joy of tourists and the Irish tourist board alike. There’s also a story about the origin of the tradition that the women of the time were tired of their husbands going into the wrong doors when they were drunk, so they painted the doors different colours to help keep their man in the right bedroom ! Royal rebellion or bit of blarney, regardless of what you want to believe I was one country closer to finding those rocky rights. Thoughts crossed my mind of scouring Google maps for this elusive shore and I fire up my laptop ready to ‘break the internet’. Ten minutes later I’m broken, bored and on the phone to my friend Alan Bennett, top kitesurfer, SUP’r, leading architect, gifted photographer and most importantly, Land Rover owner. Stuff all this Google ma jiggling, who wants to be a geek when there’s boys with toys offroading to be done. We strike it lucky with a cryptic tweet from a pro surfer who clearly has a better idea and JPEG of where this wave is and narrow the search area down to one fuel tank and two packs of Pringles. Onboard for the ride is fellow Kitesurfer/ SUP’r Keith McGeown, Keith is the ace in the pack, he’s a regular footed surfer and a good one at that ! More importantly, he reckons he knows our spot but is not exactly sure of how to get there. I assure Keith this is not important, we have a Land Rover, we all watch Top Gear and know that a plan, sense of direction or any adult like preparation is not necessary for a good day out. We smile knowingly at the unwritten promise that whatever happens in the next 12 hours cannot be spoken about to wives or partners as it will likely involve getting lost, stuck and all the other things that our better halves rightly consider as grounds for not getting in a car with us to go surfing for the day.
