Three Castles Head

The main let-down at Three Castles Head is that, despite the name, there’s only the one castle. That said, the castle itself – Dunlough – is built with three towers, so really it’s more the “Head of Three Towers” than anything else. From a defensive point of view, it’s brilliantly placed: its single wall stretches between sheer cliffs rising out of the Atlantic on one side, and a boggy lake on the other. There’s no record in history of Dunlough ever being attacked, let alone taken.

The wind off the Atlantic was fierce altogether – strong enough to tear the crests off the waves crashing against the rocks and fling them up onto the cliffs. The foamy bits flew through the air for hundreds of metres, catching the sunlight as they drifted down onto the emerald grass. Even the sheep – who usually couldn’t care less what the weather’s doing – decided to take shelter behind the castle wall that day.

The land around the castle is privately owned, so you’re meant to pay €3 for parking by tossing a few coins into the “honesty box.” I didn’t spot the box straight away (it’s a fair bit down the path towards the castle), so I popped the money into the postbox at the entrance instead. Hopefully the owners won’t mind.

Tourist season’s winding down in Ireland, so there were only a couple of cars in the car park, being patrolled – quite seriously – by a lone seagull. When we came back from our walk, the gull was still strutting about between the vehicles. We reckoned it was moonlighting as a parking attendant – or maybe even the head of parking: keeping an eye on the rules and helping folks find a spot. In Morocco, it’s customary to tip such “staff,” so we shared half a muesli bar with the gull.