The Curious Traveller - The Wild Atlantic Way

The world’s longest coastal touring route has just been unveiled – and it’s right on our doorstep. Pól Ó Conghaile maps the Wild Atlantic Way.

Thundering surf. Epic cliffs. Cosy pubs, cracking crab claws and coastal walks that’ll blow off the cobwebs and leave your Facebook friends drooling. The Wild Atlantic Way is the world’s newest coastal touring route, and it’s right on our doorstep.

Strike that. The Wild Atlantic Way is our doorstep.

Stretching 2,500km from Donegal’s Northern Lights to the sizzling kitchens of Kinsale, the tour was launched as “the journey of a lifetime” last month, and its final signposts are slotting into place. It’s already shaping up as an iconic route, and the hope is for a Gathering-like boost to Irish tourism - albeit over years rather than months.

It’s Ireland’s western seaboard, repackaged for the 21st century.

At first glance, it does seem surreally obvious. Hasn’t the Atlantic Coast always been there, after all? Hasn’t Ireland always had captivating coastal views? Aren’t the cliffs, beaches and sea stacks of the west coast already central to our tourism offering?

Of course they are. Sometimes the best ideas are the simplest, however. The decision to channel 10 million euro into chevron signposts and designated discovery points could be seen as pie in the sky, but it could also be a cost-effective way of packaging a priceless piece of tourism infrastructure that Mother Nature has already built.

It’s a busy world, out there. But something as clean, visual and breathtaking as Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way could just cut through the chatter. It could kick this beautiful coastline of ours into thoughts and plans of millions of potential visitors.

This really is as raw as Ireland gets. This is spray-in-your-face, mud-on-your-tyres, salt-on-your-windscreen stuff. It’s about jagged peninsulas, deserted villages, brilliant beaches and coastal hubs ranging from Kinsale to Kenmare and Kilkee.

The Wild Atlantic Way is longer than California’s Pacific Coast Highway or South Africa’s Garden Route, has fewer tourists (well, outside of the Cliffs of Moher and Ring of Kerry, anyway), and its halfway house is Galway City.

What’s not to like?

Few people will drive the entire 2,500km, of course. Sure, you’ll find intrepid adventurers taking it on (Liffey Press are shortly to publish a book by Eugene O’Loughlin, for example, who travelled the route by Harley Davidson). But most of us will be happy to dip in and out, biting off little bits and stopping whenever the mood strikes.

At any rate, whether you walk 10km or drive 1,000km doesn’t really matter. The Wild Atlantic Way is not there to be ‘done’ or ‘finished’. From a marketing point of view, touring routes attract more people, get them to stay longer and spend more money. For the rest of us, it’s another way to sex up a good ol’ fashioned staycation.

Businesses should benefit too. The Wild Atlantic Way is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to jump on-board a branding bandwagon with international reach - one that comes with its own ads, marketing budget and app (available end of June).

From culture vultures to adrenaline junkies, birdwatchers to big wave surfers, golfers to anglers and families to the far-flung diaspora, the Wild Atlantic Way is a grand invitation to all comers, reminiscent of Seamus Heaney’s lines from Postscript:

“And some time make the time to drive out west”

Pól Ó Conghaile is Irish Travel Writer of the Year. He contributes to National Geographic Traveller, RTE radio & TV, The Irish Independent and Cara Magazine among other media outlets. He is the author of Secret Dublin, and you can read more of his tips, features and discoveries at www.poloconghaile.com or follow him on twitter.com/poloconghaile.