Achill is Ireland's largest island, and you reach it by driving across a bridge, which takes a little of the romance away until you see the landscape. It lies off the coast of County Mayo, joined to the mainland at Achill Sound, and it is a rough, treeless land of heather bog, steep headlands and wide empty beaches. At Slievemore, the mountain that rises above the northern shore, a ruined village of stone cottages known as the deserted village stands on the slope, abandoned over generations after the Famine. At its foot, the winds sweep across the grass.
The coastline is spectacular. On the western side the cliffs of Croaghaun drop about seven hundred metres into the sea and are counted among the highest sea cliffs in Europe, though they are best seen from a boat or by hiking to the cliff top on a clear day. Keem Bay, at the far western end of the island, is a small curved beach of white sand and clear turquoise water, hemmed in by green hillsides, and approached by a steep, narrow road that is one of the most spectacular drives in Ireland. Basking sharks sometimes feed in the waters off Achill in early summer.
The German writer Heinrich Böll had a cottage on the island, and wrote about the place in his Irish Journal, which brought it to the attention of European readers. The Atlantic Drive, a circuit around the southern coast, climbs and dips past inlets and old stone walls, and the road is narrow, with plenty of sheep. The surface is generally fine but bumpy, and the wind is the main hazard, since a gust on an open headland can shift a loaded bike. The weather is changeable, with rain moving in from the Atlantic quickly.
Fuel is available at Achill Sound and in a couple of other villages, but stations are small, and the nearest large town is Westport, about thirty-seven kilometres to the east. Pubs and small restaurants serve seafood, lamb and brown bread, and the island is quiet in the evenings. The best months are May to September, when light lasts until late. Go up at sunset to the top of the road above Keem Bay, if the sky is clear, and watch the shadows move across the water.