Into The West - Magical Mayo

Editor's note

Three nights on the Moy. Start at the Jackie Clarke Collection on Pearse Street — 40,000 items from 1780 to 1930, free to enter — then walk to the Ridge Pool, one of the most famous salmon pools in Ireland, or watch the fish running at the Salmon Weir. Day tickets for the pool are limited, so book well ahead. Give a day to 1798 at Killala Bay, where Humbert's French troops came ashore at Kilcummin, and a half-day to the Franciscan abbeys at Moyne and Rosserk, within 3 km of each other; look for the mermaid carved at Rosserk.

Editor's note

On the lower slopes of Slievemore about 80 stone cottages run for 800 metres along a boreen. The families left during and after the 1840s and never came back, and the dry-stone walls still stand; find the sweathouse at the eastern end and the court tomb of around 4000 BC at the western end. Wild Nephin National Park, Ireland's first International Dark Sky Park, starts at the visitor centre in Ballycroy. Come back on a clear moonless night for the Milky Way, with a red torch and warm layers; the long nights from October to March give the darkest skies.

Editor's note

The Great Western Greenway runs 42 km of old railway trackbed from Westport through Newport and Mulranny to Achill, traffic-free, with Clew Bay on one side and Croagh Patrick across the water. Then climb the Reek itself: a 7 km round trip from Murrisk, beside the ruined abbey and the National Famine Memorial, to the chapel on the 764-metre summit. The final cone is loose quartzite scree, so wear boots and turn back if the cloud comes down. On Reek Sunday, the last Sunday in July, 20,000 to 30,000 people climb it.