Overview
Annagh takes effort to reach, and that’s rather the point. It’s a steep-sided valley on the north coast of Achill Island, County Mayo, with no road running to it: you get there on foot over the hills or by boat onto the beach. What waits at the bottom is Lough Nakeeroge East, a corrie lake sitting just 16 m above sea level – the lowest in Ireland. A ridge of glacial moraine is all that separates its fresh water from the salt water of Blacksod Bay, a few strides north.
A corrie lake almost at the tide
A corrie is the steep, amphitheatre-shaped hollow a glacier carves out of a mountainside, along with the lake that later fills it. Most Irish corries sit high in the hills; Annagh’s is unusual for lying so low, scooped out near the coast and left stranded just above the sea when the ice pulled back. The name Lough Nakeeroge comes from the Irish Loch na Caoróige, ‘lake of the small berries’, though locally it’s known simply as Annagh Lake.
What the ground remembers
For somewhere this hard to get to, Annagh has been used for a very long time. A megalithic tomb at the eastern end of the bay points to people living here up to 5,000 years ago. West of the lake stand the remains of a booley village – the huts of transhumance, where families moved with their cattle to summer grazing and lived rough for the season. Achill was one of the last places in Europe to keep booleying alive. Among the ruins is a small circular stone hut thought to have been a sweat house, a kind of primitive sauna once used against rheumatism.
The beach
The strand at Annagh is mostly rock. Time it for low tide, though, and a stretch of grey sand is uncovered at the eastern end – the reward for the walk in, and usually with nobody else on it.
Getting there
There is no easy way, and no shortcut. The usual approach is on foot from the road to Keem, starting at the turn signposted ‘Reservoir’; from there it is roughly an hour and a half over the hills down into the valley. There is no car park at Annagh itself and no facilities of any kind – no toilets, no bins, no shelter – so carry water and food, take your rubbish back out, and go properly shod for bog and rough ground. Check the forecast before you commit: this is exposed Atlantic coast, and the weather turns quickly.
Nearby
- Keem Bay – The sheltered blue-flag strand at the end of the Atlantic Drive, and the usual jumping-off point for the walk in to Annagh.
- Croaghaun – The sea cliffs on Achill’s western end, among the highest in Europe, reached on a longer hill walk rather than a stroll.
- Slievemore – Achill’s highest peak at 671 m, with the deserted village strung along its southern slope.
- Achill Sound – The island’s main hub and the road crossing to the mainland.
Wait for a low tide and a settled forecast, and give it the whole outing rather than a quick look. Annagh is the walk, the empty beach and the quiet; rush it and there’s little to see, take your time and it’s one of the best half-days on the island.