Elemental experiences | The Independent

I love how the Wild Atlantic Way steers you around the western Irish coast and through superb scenery. But I also relish exploring the towns along the way – with Sligo one of my favourites. Beside the Garvoge river, a new skyline has risen, with the most dramatic dimensions delivered by the Sligo Glasshouse Hotel. Inside this crystal palace, it’s smart and sophisticated, with plenty of art and colour.

People who stay in glass houses shouldn’t throw away the opportunity for discovering more about their location – so I met up with Melissa Ni Mhaolanfaidh, founder of Sligo Walking Tours. She took me to mediaeval Sligo Abbey, built in 1253, and to the statue of William Butler Yeats – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature and Ireland’s national poet. In County Sligo, she says: “You can see the scenery, and how it inspired him.”

Time to get more involved with the wild Atlantic. Ever since I was a young boy, I’ve dreamed of the West Coast surfing experience. And while it may have actually been the southern Californian shore I’d see in those dreams, it’s said among the pros that the waves on the West Coast of Ireland are even more impressive.

Among the surfing pros singing the praises of the West Coast of Ireland is Seamus McGoldrick of the Sligo Surf Experience. At the resort of Strandhill, he taught me how to hitch a ride on the water that has powered its way 3,000 miles across the ocean.

“It’s a very established fact that Ireland has some of the best waves in the world,” he says.

Surfing is all about balance and reading the water. And when you’re a novice, about going back time and again to try to master standing up. I proved not to be one of his best students, but had a great time. He reassures me: “Being a good surfer and being a happy surfer are very different things.”

It seems the ocean wins every time – but after this taste of the Wild Atlantic waves, I’ll be back.

To follow the surfing experience, I recommend continuing the ocean theme with a seaweed bath. At Kilcullen Seaweed Baths they have been sharing the fruits of the Atlantic with an eager public since 1912. At this exciting and uniquely Irish version of a spa, water is pumped in from the ocean and seaweed is harvested at low tide. The promise is: “A tranquil amber tinted sea of unashamed luxury”. The overture to the seaweed bath is the steam cabinet. After clambering into what appears to be a tilted horizontal wooden wardrobe, you proceed to have your…