At the Edge of the AtlanticNotebook No 130June 2026
A white Connemara crescent that does not look like Ireland and entirely is.
Collected by Deborah. Read her editorial perspective
We frequently recommend Dogs Bay to our friends traveling through Connemara, a detour just twenty minutes from the main road between Roundstone and Ballyconneely. This bone-white crescent initially challenges your notion of Ireland, because its shore is not sand. Instead, it is pure foraminifera: crushed shell worn to a powder, fine enough to give the water a swimming pool’s color in certain light.
The bay forms a sheltered horseshoe, a mile-long curve set against Errisbeg’s soft, brown slopes. Its twin, Gurteen Bay, rests just beyond a narrow neck of dunes. Gurteen also has a pale shore, but we find it often emptier, making it suitable for a swim, particularly when Dogs Bay draws more strollers.
The water permits a ten-minute swim in June and September; July and August extend that to twenty. Given the Atlantic wind and the absence of shops, plan for a full afternoon.
The Ireland Edit Way
Cut the itinerary in half, then cut it again. The letter we send before every first visit.
Every hotel change costs you half a day. Luxury, in Ireland, is staying put.
Six questions we apply before booking any room in Ireland. The November test, the dinner-twice test, the landscape-over-room test.
To understand Ireland, stop looking at the castles and start looking at the kitchen table.
From the notebook
Collected notes. A few times each season.