Walking down Curracloe Beach is like reaching the world’s end. Time seems to stop. The wind blows. Tufts of grass sway and swish. Sand whips under your feet like invisible waves.
Located along a remote strip of Irish Sea coast northeast of the town of Wexford, Curracloe is a summer holiday village that fills up with visitors during warmer months, with its series of bed & breakfasts and plethora of ocean delights. Curracloe, or Currach Cló meaning “marsh of the impression” in Irish, is connected to a long strip of sandy beach known as Curracloe Strand or Ballinesker Beach.
Easily one of the most remote, scenic beaches in all of Ireland, Ballinesker Beach was used as the setting of the D-Day scene in the film Saving Private Ryan. And Curracloe Strand does resemble Normandy with its white sands that stretch for several kilometers, flanked on one side by tufted bluffs and on the other by white-tipped waves.
Curracloe is certainly perfect for swimming, if you dare to brave the cold Irish waters. But the village and the beach fill up during the summer and much of the serenity and solace of the beach is lost to multi-coloured bathing suits and the shouts of young children. Instead, visit Curracloe during the winter when the beach is completely desolate and the wind ripples sand into stringy waves that whisk under your feet.
Curracloe is located along the R742, a coastal road that connects Wexford Town with the N11 near Gorey. The road makes for an extremely scenic drive in and of itself, and if you have time, it is well worth spending a couple of hours exploring the scenic views and sleepy coastal villages along that route.
by Megan Eaves
January 12th, 2012at 4:05 pm(#)
[...] Sunny Southeast is at its brightest in July, a perfect time to hit the sands of Curracloe Strand, one of Ireland’s longest and prettiest sand beaches (and, incidentally, the filming location [...]