The waves
Easkey’s reputation rests on two reef breaks a few hundred metres apart, on the north Sligo coast between Enniscrone and Dromore West. Easkey Left peels off the mouth of the Easkey river, beside the ruin of Roslee Castle, over a bed of cobbles and boulders; it comes into its own on an incoming tide. Easkey Right, east of the castle, is the wave surfers travel for – a long right-hander that holds its shape through several sections and, on a clean north or big west swell with the prevailing south-westerly blowing offshore, throws barrel sections that put it among the best waves in Europe.
The village earned its place in the sport early. It hosted the 1979 Pro/Am Surfing World Championships, and in 1997 Surfer Magazine listed it as one of the places a travelling surfer has to visit. In 1995 the Irish Surfing Association set up its headquarters at the surf centre here, where you can still get the daily report and buy gear. The name comes from the Irish iasc, fish – the river was full of them.
A word of warning before you paddle out. This is not a beginners’ beach. Both breaks are cold, and what sits under the water is rock, not sand – a wipeout here means a scrape rather than a soft landing, and the crowd in the water tends to know exactly what it’s doing. Come to watch, or to surf if you already have the experience. Take your first lessons on a forgiving beach break down the coast instead.
The castle and the river walk
Roslee Castle, also called O’Dowd’s Castle, stands right at the river mouth by the pier. It was built in 1207 for Oliver McDonnell, who came to Sligo to marry into the O’Dowd family, and it became the stronghold of the O’Dowd chieftains of Tireragh in west Sligo. The tower runs to about 63 feet and carries the nickname ‘Sailor’s Bed’. It’s a ruin now, roofless and open to the wind, but the main body still stands over the water.
A walk of roughly 2km loops from the village down along the Easkey river to the castle and out to the sea. Cross the bridge, follow the path about a kilometre to the water, and you’ll pass picnic benches on the bank with a clear view of whoever is out on the reef.
The Split Rock
A mile south of the village, on the flat plain below the Ox Mountains, sits the Split Rock – a chunk of gneiss about 6.5m long and 2.5m high, cleanly cracked down the middle. Geologists call it a glacial erratic, carried down from the mountains by the retreating ice at the end of the last ice age and dropped here.
Local folklore prefers a better story. Fionn Mac Cumhaill, the tale goes, hurled the boulder from the summit of the Ox Mountains during a giants’ stone-throwing contest; furious that it fell short of the sea, he leapt down and struck it with his sword, splitting it in two. The superstition attached to it is that anyone who passes through the gap three times will find the rock closing in on them – so most people stop at two.
Swimming at Poll Gorm
Below the village, Poll Gorm is a natural saltwater pool that four local men walled off the rocks in 1966, tidied up again in 2017. It disappears completely under a high tide and reappears as the water drops, which makes low water the time to go for a swim in something calmer than the open Atlantic.
Practical notes
Facilities are thin on the ground, so don’t arrive expecting much. There’s parking and a public toilet at the castle car park, and benches along the river. The surf centre handles the daily report and sells gear. Bus Éireann route 458 links the village with Ballina and Dromore West if you’re travelling without a car. For more beach and a couple more amenities, Enniscrone is a short drive west and Aughris Head sits along the coast to the east.
The Right needs a proper swell to fire, and it doesn’t work every day. Check the forecast before you drive out, and time your visit to the swell rather than the calendar.