A wonderful addition to the Erris tourist trail
The lens room in the Solas Visitor Centre in Erris. Each lens weighs one tonne.
One of the great bonuses of a post-surgery recuperation programme is the care and attention that is lavished on the victim as an aid to the recovery process.
Another great benefit is the county we live in. I can recommend it to any fellow or cailín. The fresh air is the freshest to be found anywhere in the world. The walks - Greenway and off-Greenway - which the medics recommend to get the patient back on his/her feet are just a pure joy. These can be on the flat or on an incline depending on your disposition but whether or which if you need to stretch the legs as part of your recovery you won’t be stuck for choice. I have been slowly getting back on the feet with the aid of a Derryhick Stick which, depending on the mood, trebles as a crutch, a conversation piece or a fashion accessory.
The medics are also keen to ensure that their patients adhere to a fairly strict dietary regime and abstinence from the cursed drink. I would suggest that the majority of patients who end up on the surgeon’s table tend to be on the obese side so one can understand the emphasis on diet and alcohol intake.
Sometimes in the county we love so well it is not all that easy to be good. Just up the road from me is the Gannon family-run Croagh Patrick Seafoods, which excels at producing the most delicious Clew Bay oysters, mussels and clams. You can do a tour of the shellfish operation or you can do a tasting of the delicacies. No medals for guessing which option I went for. Niamh and Cora were my minders and while there was some frowning at the choice of a dozen oysters, a pot of mussels and some smoked salmon on homemade brown bread (to be shared, it should be said) the fare was so good that any guilt around breaches of diet just evaporated. Besides, I don’t think food that is so fresh, so wholesome, so exquisite and so welcome can be unsuited to a person’s constitution.
Having done the Atlantic Drive the week before and there being a need for some diversion the other day, the minders and the chauffeur (I’m told it could be another four to six weeks before I can drive myself) agreed to accompany me to John Gallagher and the Aughleam community’s latest visitor attraction - Solas.
A visit to Erris is always an enjoyable prospect and while the N59 is a road well-travelled there is always an excuse to take a break. Cleary’s of Ballycroy was, for many years, the in-place and a watering hole of considerable distinction. It was difficult to pass. Nowadays the Ballycroy Visitor Centre is the place to stop and no matter how often you visit there seems to be some attraction to justify a further visit.
And, of course, there is Ginger and Thyme with its selection of cakes, Irish Apple and Tunisian Apple Cake among others. Being adventurous I went for the Tunisian. I’m not sure the medics would agree, but sure when you’re out, you’re out. An additional nice treat among the many nice treats is the offer of a top-up to your tea or coffee. You don’t come across many restaurants or coffee shops here that offer a top-up. Ballycroy’s Ginger and Thyme is ahead of the posse.
Another great thing about Ballycroy that you would not find everywhere: on the way out of the Visitor Centre I was brought to a halt by the receptionist who recognised me from a time long ago. I failed to recognise her but was told that she and I and others had been involved in community development work many moons ago and, in our innocence, were determined to make Mayo the walking capital of Ireland. We have not got there yet but considerable progress has been made.
My memory was never great and it gets worse as the years go by but before I got into the car to resume our journey I had some sort of a memory upload and saw, as clear as day, the face of Sinéad Gaughan as she was twenty plus years ago. Sorry Sinéad for my faulty recall.
Solas is the Irish for light and a more appropriate name could hardly be found to encompass all that is contained in this new version of Ionad Deirbhile. For the best part of thirty years, Ionad Deirbhile has attracted visitors to hear the story of the Mullet Peninsula, its history, archaeology, folklore, stories, music, myths and legends. The centre had collected a wealth of information, artefacts and social history, all of which, and more, has been brought together through interactive exhibitions and the latest in digital fittings in the three interactive chambers in the House of Light.
The use of interactive touchscreens allows the visitor to open up the exhibitions and draw them into a world of knowledge and information about times past, about the customs and lore of a people forged from their environment. I don’t have the technological vocabulary to properly describe what visitors can magic up, but they can certainly expect a magical experience.
This is first-class visitor attraction. It is located at what was once the end of the world. Blacksod, which is a few miles further on, houses one of Erris’s four lighthouses. It is well known nowadays for the role played by Maureen Sweeney in delaying, by a day, the D-Day landings as the Allied troops assembled for the assault on Europe. The weather information relayed from Blacksod delayed the assault and ensured better landing conditions for the Allies.
A less well-known but more important piece of Erris social history is documented in one of the Solas exhibition rooms and relates to the Tuke-assisted migration, from Blacksod Bay, of people from North West Mayo to the US and Canada. A total of eleven ships made fifteen transatlantic voyages in 1853 and 1854, carrying 3,300 people, including entire families, to ports in Boston and Québec.
James Hack Tuke was a benevolent Quaker who spent most of his life working to alleviate the suffering of people in the West in post-Famine Ireland. The names of those who emigrated, broken down in some instances to villages and towns are all recorded and can be displayed at the touch of a button (or two!). This is a compelling story and will be of more than a little interest to all those amateur genealogists seeking to trace their family back story.
Michael Ring can take much credit for what is an exciting and illuminating addition to the visitor attractions in Erris. While Minister, he provided most of the €4 million invested in the project. Also on board were Údarás na Gaeltachta, the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltachta, Sport and Media, Pobal, Mayo Co Co and Fáilte Ireland.
When I visited I was fortunate enough to be joined by John Gallagher, the driving force behind Comharchumann Forbartha Ionad Deirbhile and a man well known for his community development work over many years. Michael Ring may have provided the money and those other agencies may have had an input but there is little doubt over who cracked the whip to get the local community united behind this wonderful addition to Erris’s many tourist initiatives. And he would have played no small role in securing the three one-tonne lenses 'donated' by Irish Lights that adorn one of the chambers.
Tús maith leath na hoibre.
