Donegal - Beautiful Beaches

'Tis the holiday season. 'l'Éducation Nationale' in France treats the parents of school age children to very long holidays. In our case, eleven weeks sans école. No wonder they call the summer holidays Les Grandes Vacances. Grandes, BIG, being the operative word. This year our first port of call was the north west coast of Ireland in Donegal where my Other Half's maternal family come from. 

It is an amazing place and has some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. On the day we arrived the weather was stunning (I wish I could say the same for the rest of the week...ahem), and before even saying hello to a single relative we headed straight for the beach. Rossnowlagh beach. The tide was out so we got to enjoy the huge expanse of sand and the endless blue sky.

We were so exhilarated by the vast sense of space we just tore our shoes off and ran for the water. 

Ripples in the sand.

Ripples in the water.

We had to wait a few more days after this first day for the rain to clear and were taken to another beautiful beach near Sligo, Dunmoran Strand. The sky was a little more threatening, but we had more big skies and sand stretching as far as the eye could see.

I love the stripes in this view.

And here is a much smaller beach on Saint John's Point, a tongue of land that extends 15-20kms into the sea, a little north-west of Donegal Town. The sand here is golden and the water an intense blue. 

It is also VERY cold.

From this beach we walked to the tip of Saint John's Point as far as the light house.

The beach is more exposed and rocky.

After this beach we went to my Other Half's grandmother's house and tucked into a freshly baked scone-bread she had just pulled out of the oven. It should be noted that his grandmother is 98 years old and still baking bread. The very best of breads!