The VISIT Sligo campaign to promote Sligo as a world class place to visit, meets Aidan Doyle (Dream Links Golf in Rosses Point) & William Britton (Northwest Adventure Tours) and sets out to explore some of the outdoor activities Sligo has on offer.
Lovers of the great outdoors will think they’ve landed in wonderland when they visit Sligo. The county has a remarkable choice of activities in the mountains, in the countryside and of course along the glorious coastline of the Wild Atlantic Way. A network of activity providers is on hand to make it all easy and accessible for visitors. The unifying factor is the surprisingly personal way in which they do it.
Take Dream Links Golf in Rosses Point for example, which organises bespoke golfing holidays. Their aim is for the visiting golfer to become embedded in the local culture by meeting and playing with local golfers. Tom Horkan and his partner Aidan Doyle are proud as punch of their local golf course, County Sligo Golf Club in Rosses Point, but along with their wives Anne and Caroline, the foursome cannily spotted a true USP in Sligo – it’s the centre of a world class cluster of links golf courses. Links courses are the challenging ones along the coastline with magnificent sand dunes and tight turf fairways which golfers around the globe dream of playing. Of the 35,000 or so golf courses in the world, less than 250 are links courses and three of these comprise what they call the Sligo Links Swing region. The entire USA has just four links courses.
The three Sligo links courses are Rosses Point, Enniscrone and Strandhill. Dream Links also expand their reach to Carne Golf Links in north Mayo and Donegal Golf Links both of which are within a 90 minute drive. The experience begins when the golfers, usually Americans travelling as a group, arrive in Ireland. Dream Links meet them at the airport and that’s where their dream begins. Convivial dinners, good humoured prizegiving, excellent meals and of course a sing song somewhere cosy like Harry’s Pub in Rosses Point, are all part of the deal. The golfers fall in love with Sligo, make friends for life and return home as ambassadors for the county. A keen golfer himself, Tom literally makes dreams come true for golfers giving them a genuine, personal and welcoming experience.
Golf isn’t everyone’s cup of tea and William Britton who runs Northwest Adventure Tours has a menu of sustainable, environmentally friendly activities to please just about anyone. Again, he offers a truly exceptional experience for his clientele looking after them personally and ensuring their trip is memorable. His love of outdoor activities comes from his family who are all adrenalin junkies with surfing as their sport of choice.
William usually brings groups hiking, stand-up paddleboarding, cycling and mountain biking but happily organises other activities too, often seamlessly co-ordinating with kayak and yoga businesses. He’ll look after beginners with endless patience or lead more experienced groups on the trip of a lifetime. One group from London arrived at Knock Airport shortly after Covid restrictions lifted and an hour later were mountain biking without a care in the world. The cool down consisted of a bracing swim in Ladies Brae, then a delicious dinner followed by a full moon night hike when a meteor shower topped off the day in a truly heavenly manner.
Coolaney National Mountain Bike Centre has been a boon for William with a 30km network of exciting purpose-built trails graded according to ability. It’s an introduction to the Ox mountains, a rural area visitors just love and that’s part of the appeal for William – matching people with the areas, attractions and activities that will suit them best. After a dozen years in operation, he knows every secret tidal pool, hidden trail and snug pub with an open fire to relax in afterwards.
Despite its compact size, Sligo has a remarkable choice of remote mountains and beaches just waiting to be discovered. William sees the county as a dartboard with Sligo town as the bullseye and a cornucopia of adventure areas radiating out from it. That’s quite an image to take away!
