The Cottage In Achill Island

The weather here lately has been “very Irish”. Tom and I have found ourselves chilled to the bone despite the temperature being moderate because the air is so damp. The only difference is the rain. The way the rain falls here is strangely hard to explain, but I’ll try my best. Here it can come down hard and only get you in a few places and you’re not really wet when you come inside. And you can leave your clothes on and you’ll dry soon enough. In Ireland the rain is more like a drizzle or a light spray but every time you end up soaked. And there’s no way you can leave your clothes on because you’ll feel damp all night long.

Last year around this time we were finishing up our last week in Ireland by staying in a beautiful little cottage at the very tip of Achill Island. We spent the first week visiting Tom’s family and during the second Tom took me around to see all the places I wanted to see, and then in the last week we had some time to relax and be there. It was probably one of my favorite parts of the trip. I woke to the sound of sheep grazing outside my window and the smell of the ocean just down the street and fell asleep to the sound of the rain. When you left the cottage, you could go right just a little ways down the road to reach the edge of the island where huge cliffs waited to be climbed and abandoned ruins to be explored. If you went straight you’d find a long stretch of beach where you could sit and watch the ocean. I enjoy the autumn months here. The leaves that change, the crisp air, the rainy hot cocoa nights… but today, Ireland, I’m thinking of you.