There is nothing more exhilarating than finding a remote, idyllic setting untouched by throngs of tourists. One travel seeker was told Kinnagoe Bay is the prettiest place in Ireland and also the hardest to find. After much perseverance the writer eventually finds this utopia not even marked on most maps.
"We climb a winding, one-lane road. A few black-faced sheep watch us pass and, here and there, bricks of freshly dug peat dry in the sun. At the roofless ruin of a stone cottage, the road dips sharply toward the ocean.
And then we see it.
A postcard-perfect beach stretches out below, framed by the mountain we've just conquered. A steep track with a brake-searing, 180-degree switchback descends to the seaside. A handful of cars and vans are parked at the bottom and no more than two dozen couples and kids are scattered over a beach that could accommodate hundreds. The people we chat with all live in the area. It's clear not many people are in on Peter's secret.
Cliffs surround the beach. High above, only a handful of houses – one turns out to be a rental cottage – enjoys the million-dollar view. Just offshore, a boatload of divers is checking out La Trinidad Valencera, one of a score of the ships of the Spanish Armada that foundered on the Irish coast in 1588. Members of a local scuba club found the wreck in 1971 and some of the treasures they recovered are displayed in Derry's Tower Museum.
We walk down the beach to what looks like a collection of sculptures. Wind and water have fashioned large steel-blue rocks into the shapes of breaking waves and beached whales. In the distance, a darker outcrop has been hollowed out to form a towering ring of stone..."
The article encourages one to think about those cherished, remote places with spectacular views. Perhaps one of my most vivid memories is coming down to Tofino, on the west coast of Vancouver Island. The remote bay, the promontories, the sweeping Pacific, the rugged forests breathed escape.
