Just 3 km west of Galway city is the seaside resort of Salthill and that’s were we’ve come to film on this cold, and quiet windy morning. But look at the light, this is really a beautiful place at this time of year. Given that this walk is ridiculously early in the morning and that we’re visiting in mid November, you’d think that there’d be no one around, but as you’ll see plenty of people are still drawn to the beauty of this place.
A lot of work goes into these videos. You can now buy me a pint as a means of appreciation for my work on Naked Ireland, no obligation, obviously - only if you can afford it... I appreciate it. Cheers.
www.buymeacoff...
But, there’s also some redevelopment going on here, and this seaside town, which largely grew up in the 1970’s and 80s when casinos, amusements, hotels and leisure centres began to appear, is still very much a work in progress by the look of things. However, the view out to the bay, is something that frankly can’t be improved upon.
We look at the Galway Atlantaquaria, Ireland’s largest native species aquarium and another attraction for families along the promenade.
The video takes us along this well-known Salthill promenade which is a couple of miles long, where you can wonder at the beautiful Galway Bay. We finish up at the iconic Blackrock diving tower, where people like to come and swim in these freezing cold Atlantic waters and we’ll see some of those brave swimmers when we reach that point.
It’s perhaps a little unfair to make a judgement of the seafront in the early hours of the morning on a winter’s day. In summer time this place is buzzing, the pubs and restaurants are in full swing and Salthill is one of Ireland's favourite holiday destinations.
Local people come down here to jog along the prom, or for early morning walks with their dog. It’s certainly a good place to blow the cobwebs off and stimulate the senses before the day begins.
We visit Leaisureland, another major family attraction in Salthill. It features swimming pools and a fitness suite, but during summer months there’s a fairground on the site, complete with big wheel and bumper cars. You can imagine the empty beaches packed with people in the summer. It really does get busy here.
The other thing to mention about Galway is its close association with the Irish language. County Galway is home to the largest Gaeltacht Irish speaking region in Ireland. There’s thought to be between 30 and 40 thousand Irish speakers in the county. Nearly 24,000 of these are classed as native Irish speakers. Almost 11 thousand identify themselves as being daily Irish speakers.
The little shelters and buildings right along the sea are iconic seaside structures. The bright colours really pop on a morning like this against the moody colours of the bay. Again we have to picture all this at the height of summertime. We look at a little building which would be serving all the bathers and holiday makers ice creams and what have you.
But despite the winter weather, we can already see a hardy bather making use of the wild Atlantic. I can only imagine how cold that must feel, but we’ll see much more bathing later as we approach Blackrock diving tower.
The islands in Galway bay incidentally are the 3 Aran Islands, which sit at the mouth of the bay and where the Aran sweater originates from.
The rain here just seems to make everything all the more beautiful and adds to the atmosphere.
We head down towards the Blackrock diving tower, I’m overtaken by two young swimmers who are seemingly keen not to get wet at this stage. But of course they’ll soon be submerged in the icy Atlantic waters.
And they’re not the only ones. This is a very popular thing to do in Salthill on a Sunday morning in mid-winter it seems, as you'll see from the number of people involved here in this activity.
We see the people in swimming at the end of the pier. But on looking around, there must be 20 or 30 people in total.
On leaving, there's two girls heading home after a dip, presumably invigorated and off to find a hot drink at the end of a rainbow in the distance.