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Surf’s up in Bundoran
By Malcolm Rogers
 MALCOLM
ROGERS heads to Donegal to experience the Brighton of Ireland.
Broadcaster and writer Stephen Rynne said some 50 years ago: “Donegal
is strong meat: Strong scenery, strong weather, strong bodies, strong
spirit.”
Fionn Davenport, the Dublin-born writer of the Lonely Planet Travel Guide,
was less effusive.
Two years ago he described the county’s main seaside resort Bundoran
as “one of Ireland’s tackiest holiday resorts”.
Until recently it would have been hard to disagree with the Lonely Planet
verdict, although Stephen Rynne’s observation on the northern weather
still holds true.
For long Bundoran was a cheap bolt-hole for stag parties from the North
— or the Six Counties to be more exact, because of course Donegal
people regard themselves as Northerners, indeed as Ulster people.
But no matter where the visitors came from, Bundoran was known for, and
let’s not beat about the bush, its rough element.
It was a low-spend place, a centre of excellence for slot machine players,
rowdy pub-goers and those whose idea of sartorial elegance was a shell-suit
and baseball cap on back-to-front.
Bundoran has slowly begun to change but it’s not been an easy task.
As Niamh Hamill, manager of Bundoran’s much-praised Donegal Adventure
Centre (www.donegaladventurecentre.net)
puts it: “It was difficult to re-brand Bundoran. We can’t
sell it for the weather and we can’t sell for cheap, so we need
something else.”
What they have, of course, is the Atlantic.
The surfers who now journey here from all over the world probably know
— as previous visitors didn’t — that beyond Aughurus
Head lie the Fairy Bridge and the Puffing Hole, the latter an impressive
rock funnel which ejects water in an impressive display.
They also know that the rollers which crash on to the shores of Donegal
Bay have travelled 3,000 miles to get there and accordingly provide perfect
surfing conditions.
Niamh added: “We have excellent surfing with three beaches, each
suitable for people at different levels of ability, depending on conditions.”
Bundoran now has four surf schools, with another half-dozen up and down
the coast.
In the last decade — despite the work of the Lonely Planet Guide
— the town’s international and domestic reputation has grown.
Visitors from those other great surfing superpowers, Hawaii, South Africa,
Australia and southern Spain, regularly visit.
Should you fancy trying the sport (absolutely no age limit applies and
it’s a bit easier than it looks) you can also try Donegal Adventure,
Bundoran (00 353 72 42418) or www.bundoransurfco.com.
Bundoran Surf Co. is a Surf School, Surf Lodge and Surf Shop, catering
for all your surfing needs, for all levels of surfers. That’s about
as surfy as you can get.
If you just want to swim — or watch the surfing — Tullan Beach
extends for almost three miles north towards the River Erne.
At this time of the year the boreens round here are lined by orange flowers
called montbretia, a ‘garden escape’ bred in the 1870s by
a French nurseryman who crossed two irises from southern Africa.
Somehow it managed to make its way to Donegal (like the fuchsia) and ever
since has wandered like a vagabond along the laneways of the north-westerly
reaches of Ireland.
The colour comes as a wonderful contrast to the luscious green of the
windswept glens.
Background to Bundoran
Bundoran’s original claim to fame was as a place of relaxation for
the Ascendancy and even into the early part of the 20th century was advertised
as the Brighton of Ireland.
But in actual fact it’s potentially a far better resort than Brighton
— for one thing it has a beach right in the centre of the town and
the backdrop of Donegal’s Atlantic coast beats the Sussex Downs
any day of the week.
The first official mention of Bundoran, or Bun Dobhráin to give
it its proper name, was in 1777 when Viscount Enniskillen built Bundoran
Lodge, his summer residence.
This building exists to this day, now known as Homefield House.
 The
Viscount started a trend among his contemporaries and soon his upper class
cronies were heading for Bundoran to enjoy the scenery and health benefits.
Until just over a century ago, the resort was two separate villages.
Bundoran was the village west of the bridge over the River Bradog, the
area now known as the West End.
East of the bridge, around two miles away, was the aptly-named village
of Single Street.
In between these two separate communities lay the historic townland of
Drumacrin, now part of what is today’s town centre.
It was only after the opening of the railway station in 1866 that the
two distinct communities developed and merged into today’s Bundoran.
The best-known hotel and indeed one of Bundoran’s signature landmarks,
the Great Northern Hotel dates back to the coming of the railroad, namely
the Great Northern Railway Company.
By the 1960s the Troubles had returned to the North of Ireland.
What was left of the Aristocracy, the foreign visitors and the upmarket
tourists from Dublin decamped.
Bundoran was left to parties from (largely) Derry and Belfast and the
town changed down gear accordingly.
As if its reputation hadn’t suffered enough, the town hit the headlines
in August 1980 when 10 holiday-makers, five of them children, died in
a fire in the Central Hotel.
In 1992 Pat McCabe located a key scene of his novel The Butcher Boy in
Bundoran.
Francie Brady returns to the town to see where his parents spent their
(predictably unhappy) honeymoon.
In the film version of the book, Sinead O’Connor sang the song Beautiful
Bundoran.
The Troubles are over now and although the resort continues to be popular
with Six Counties people, it has become markedly more cosmopolitan.
Cheap flights to Florida, Malaga and Riga mean that the hen parties have
moved on and slowly the town is recovering.
No longer is Bundoran a rainswept, low budget Benidorm.
B&B in Bundoran
The Great Northern Hotel gets mixed reviews but it’s generally agreed
to be the best of the bunch in a town where hotel ownership is largely
in the hands of one family.
Located on 130 acres of parkland, it boasts swimming pool, leisure centre
and great views of the Atlantic.
Tel 00353 (0)71 984 1204.
During March and part of April the hotel is offering weekend breaks (two
B&B plus one dinner e155 pps) and midweek breaks (two B&B plus
one dinner e110 pps).
Down the coast
Bundoran is getting more and more popular but Rossnowlagh, six miles down
the coast, boasts a dramatic and emptier shoreline. Tyrconnell Holiday
Cottages (00353 7198 42277, www.tyrconnell-group.com) has five-person
cottages from e345 for a long weekend and runs the surf school where a
three-hour surf session including equipment is e25.
Getting there
Ryanair (www.ryanair.com)
flies to Derry, 40 miles away while Aer Lingus (www.aerlingus.com)
and easyJet (www.easyjet.com) goes
to Belfast.
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