Some Small Black & White

From www.castlebar.ie

Frank Cawley
Some Small Black & White
By Frank Cawley
Jan 26, 2006, 01:09

These are some pictures I took in Achill and the Mullet this Christmas. Image sizes are pretty small, if any one wants a proper size copy send me an email.

This is the furthest west man can be legally buried in Mayo. In fact its so far west you could almost say your buried in the east. You have a great view of the Atlantic, and the tail end of Achill island to the south. St Deirbhile is buried in the graveyard, and they say that nothing will grow on her grave only time. It must be true because every time I go there, and I’ve been there at least one hundred times, I set a seed and none have grown yet. I’m convinced some locally lacheco sprays the thing every night with weed killer, but I could be wrong.

These are some footsteps I found on the deserted beach beside the graveyard. The big stones look like giant’s feet maybe they belonged to the three giants that are buried between Glen Castle and Bangor. They are buried on your left-hand side as you cross the small river just about half a mile outside Glen Castle on your way to Bangor. The biggest giant has a Mayo flag buried where one of his eyes used to be.

This is what Achill is like in a force 8 gale, this picture was taken in Nov 05 on the Atlantic drive near Ashleam. The weather was so bad there wasn’t a goat to be seen.

This is the legendary main door into St Deirbhile’s Church. They say if you walk through this door and through the window at the western gable 22 times reciting a decade of the rosary in your bare feet with a 40 Euro donation for the local padre for each time you curse when your toe hammers a rock, well then you will never drown. You’ll never die of obesity either because a camel would fit easier through the eye of a needle than a man would fit through the window at the south end of the church. I’ve seen wasps struggle to get through it, and I’ve seen grown women turn purple trying to squeeze their enormous frames through this slender gap. The same women wouldn’t drown too quickly anyway – they say whales can survive a long time in the sea!

This is where the Achill fishermen shelter during a storm, or when they have to sign on for the dole.