ON Mayo’s Achill Island, the Atlantic waves are mesmeric. I scan the ocean for dolphins or basking sharks. No luck, only two lads on a lone fishing boat.

As it turns out, my luck is in. After the lads have finished fishing, and dragged their boat onto idyllic Keem Bay’s Blue Flag beach, they offer several filleted mackerels to my parter Ron and I.

An upturned, traditional, canvas and tarred, currach resting nearby, offer a poignant reminder of Achill’s previous shark fishing industry.

St Patrick is renowned to have looked out from Croagh Patrick, his mountain, blessed Keem and predicted that no-one would drown there. His prophecy has come true. Despite the severity of the Atlantic, no-one has ever died in Keem Bay’s waters.

It’s true that there are many activities to occupy visitors to remote Achill, Ireland’s largest island, with peaks Slievemore (671m), Croaghaun,(668m) and Minaun (466m). Angling, hill-walking, water-sports, horse riding, golf, festivals, and a half marathon and 10k run are on offer. Cyclists and walkers love the 42km Great Western Greenway, a traffic-free trail following the route of the Westport to Achill railway which closed in 1937.

Sadly, 1937 also marks a tragedy, with Scottish connections. In that year, 10 young Irish potato pickers from Achill died in a fire in their bothy in Kirkintilloch. At the recently opened Achill Experience in the village of Keel, visitors can learn about the tragedy, Achill’s history and view Mayo’s first aquarium.

In Keel, Ron and I adjust to the pervading, burning turf smell. Much of the island is blanket bog and bags of peat dot the fields. We give up trying to get used to the seemingly fearless, Blackface Mountain sheep, who wander everywhere. The breed was imported in its thousands from Scotland after Ireland’s Great Famine in the mid-19th century. Today, many are marked with large blue, splodgy spots and look like their fleeces are ready for designer sweaters.

After packing our rucksacks with smoked salmon from the homely, Achill Cliff House Hotel, we drive to Roonagh Pier, and take a ferry to the must-see Clare Island. With a population of around 150, it’s the largest of Clew Bay’s 365 islands. As I board the Clew Bay Queen for the 20-minute passage, I find myself I singing Clare Island by the Saw Doctors.

Someone in heaven must have been busy with a watering can. We become progressively wetter as a Force 4 wind rocks us towards the harbour, where Grace O’Malley’s castle welcomes us.

She seems to have been something of a heroine. Known as The Pirate Queen, Grace (Grainneuaile) was born in 1530, daughter of the chieftain of the Ó Máille clan. The clan built castles and taxed those who fished off their coasts.

We walk to St Brigid’s Cistercian Abbey, stopping to talk to a Patrick, who is exercising his dog. Appreciating his beautiful island, he says: “I put my backside to the turf and look at the view.”

And what views. Wild pink fuchsias, yellow irises and

seabirds decorate the landscape, as does the 461m Knockmore mountain.

At the shop and post office, we collect the Abbey key from Padraig

O’Malley and extricate ourselves from a prolonged Brexit discussion to

explore. In dimness, we admire medieval ceiling and wall paintings and

glance at the tomb, where Grace is supposedly buried.

Potatoes used to be buried on Clare Island, evidenced by the “lazy beds” – old potato ridges covered in grass. As a result of the famine, the island’s population was halved by the famine.

Weather is so changeable in North Mayo and locals even refer to “wet rain” and “dry rain”. After grabbing a chance to eat our sandwiches in dry rain, Ron heads to the Sailor’s Bar and Restaurant, to join his fellow Irishmen to cheer on Ireland in the Euro 2016.

On the last ferry back to Achill, there are 11 passengers. On a rolling car deck, three joyful girls entertain us with Irish dancing and cartwheels.

We spend around two hours in the Deserted Village at Slievemore, where Gerard Mangan, an experienced guide and archaeologist, expertly brings 6000 years of history alive as we view the remains of 80 stone houses, left from an original total of 137.

This place, with its stunning sea view and delicate flowers, was inhabited since Neolithic times the first written evidence was

in the 12th century. There are still people alive on Achill who lived there up to the late 1950s/early 1960s.

Early villagers stuck metal stakes into the land. If they were still upright, they built a house. If they’d fallen over, it was believed the fairy people weren’t happy and the plan was abandoned. As rain falls, we stand on the remains of a manure pit, then lean against the house’s wall, which had one door and only one window (more windows meant more rent).

Each dry stone walled house was inhabited by around 10-15 people, all living in abject poverty. They spoke Gaelic and couldn’t read or write.

“Granny sat in the corner next to the fire,” Mangan tells us. “Children slept on a ledge above the animals. They may not have had a chimney, so it would have been full of smoke.”

At Westport, about an hour’s drive from Achill, we find no evidence of turf fires. Indeed, the views of Clew Bay view from our superb Westport Coast Hotel bedroom are compelling, and tempt us to take a cruise, aboard the Spirit of St Patrick. On board, we sail past seals and islands, including Dorinish, which was bought by John Lennon in 1967 and later sold by Yoko to two local farmers.

There’s much to do in delightful Westport, especially Westport House, which was built on the foundations of Grace O’Malley’s castle and has belonged to her descendents, the Brown family, for nearly 500 years. Keen to learn more about the town, we take a guided walk

with knowledgeable Celine King of Westport Walking Tours.

However, our most captivating tour turns out to be the Wild Atlantic Way drive to Killary. We Skoda past Croagh Patrick, “Ireland’s holiest mountain”, which is climbed by thousands of pilgrims each year on Reek Sunday (the last Sunday in July). After Louisburgh, it was one long gasp through the valley between the Sheeffry and Mweelrea Mountains, to Delphi and Killary, with its fantastic fjord, bordering Galway. Knocked out by the scenery, we venture a little further to Connemara and the unmissable Kylemore Abbey with its Victorian walled garden, which is owned and run by the Benedictine community.

Before leaving Mayo, we have another taste of Achill’s connection with Scotland. At the Beehive Craft Coffee Shop, Keel, Allan MacDonald perform with harper Laoise Kelly, as a fundraiser for Achill International Harp Festival in October 2016.

It’s a stunning concert and we leave full of the music, magnetism and magic of the west of Ireland. We’d love to return to another Saw Doctors’ song – The Green And Red Of Mayo.

TRAVEL FACTS

Louise Cahill was a guest of the Achill Cliff House Hotel, Keel, Co, Mayo (www.achillcliff.com +353 98 43400) and the Westport Coast Hotel, The Quay, Westport, Co May (www.westportcoasthotel.ie +353 98 29000)

A hire car was supplied by Hertz www.hertz.ie

flybe operates flights from Edinburgh to Knock

flybe.com

www.clareislandferry.com

For full tourism information visit www.ireland.com