The car involved in last nights crash, and the police were investigating. She’s in trouble was the comment we heard. 3 people were hospitalised after the incident.
Our first real stop of the day was at Mullaghmore Head, apparently a surfers Paradice with an enormous temperamental wave. No wave of any sort today - flat calm! But of much more interest was the castle we passed, close to the harbour…a much sadder story unfolded……
August 27, 1979, a Bank holiday, had dawned sunny, following days of rain. “Dickie” Mountbatten and some of his family who had been staying at their holiday home, Classibawn Castle near the Village of Cliffoney, County Sligo in the Republic of Ireland, decided to take an outing on their boat to take in the good weather.
Fifteen minutes after setting sail, a planted bomb was activated by two members of the Provisional IRA, watching from the shore. “The boat was there one minute and the next minute it was like a lot of matchsticks floating on the water,” a witness said. “Fifty pounds of gelignite exploded, sending showers of timber, metal, cushions, lifejackets and shoes into the air,” Andrew Lownie, author of The Mountbattens: Their Lives and Loves, wrote for the BBC. “Then, there was a deadly silence.
The party of seven aboard the Shadow included Mountbatten, his daughter Patricia, her husband, Lord John Brabourne, their 14-year-old twins, Timothy and Nicholas, and Lord Brabourne’s mother, the dowager Lady Doreen Brabourne. Paul Maxwell, 15, a friend of the family who worked on the boat, was also on board. Mountbatten, Nicholas Brabourne and Maxwell were killed immediately. Lady Brabourne died the next day and the others survived serious injuries.
Mountbatten was both a sentimental and symbolic target. “He was one of the most respected members of the royal family and was serving as mentor to [then] Prince Charles,” says Jeffrey Lewis, lecturer in the International Studies Program at Ohio State University. Mountbatten was also an easy target. The bomb had been placed in his unguarded boat the night before his murder. He had been vacationing in the Irish town of Mullaghmore throughout the 1970s and had refused security detail, despite repeated threats from the Provisional IRA to assassinate him. Mountbatten had declared, “Who the hell would want to kill an old man anyway.
Our next stop was Esty pier, just a simple village pier but a nice place to stop and have a picnic lunch. A local man came passed and chatted for a while and talked about the old castle we were sitting beside. And it was obviously a surfers haunt - but again no waves today!
Back in the car we were heading for Achill Island, a place recommended to us by Tony. As an aside, on the way we came across a tiny hamlet with a hall with this banner…
The film was shot here in Ballycroy in County Mayo and this was the actual ballroom… in the middle of nowhere indeed.
Next stop was Achill Island. A beautiful island, only separated by a very short bridge from the mainland. We drove through the village of Keel and onto Keem for some great photos. Folk swimming in the clear water - could have been the Med! However the drive to Keem was over a very steep road with really steep drops so I was not happy! Worth it in the end though
However at last we got last and arrived at our B and B in Westport. We were a bit dismayed to see the distance from town - I thought I had chosen one which was an easy walk out fir dinner. However it turned out that Westports harbour area was the spot to be and was indeed a 5 minute stroll. A lovely evening having a drink and eating outside at one of the hotels.
