84 MAY 2019
ireland
at left: Lahinch
beach. below: Denis
Vaughan (center),
head chef at Vaughans
Anchor Inn, with his
sons James (left) and
D eni s Jr. (right)
THE MILE-LONG BEACH at Lahinch is
amazingly wide at low tide. Wealthy
sportsmen used to race horses on the
huge expanse of golden sand. These days,
Lahinch has become the headquarters of
Ireland’s booming surfing scene. Clad in
neoprene wet suits, competition surfers
challenge the waves on Ireland’s wild
Atlantic coast while tourists watch from
the pubs and cafés on the arcade above.
Long considered the finest beach in
Ireland, Lahinch first became popular
as a seaside resort in the 1880s. It gained
further fame when the Lahinch Golf
Club’s course was designed by Old Tom
Morris in 1894. But it’s past the golf
course, down the road, that you find
my main draw to the beach, at a “sea-
food pub” called Vaughans Anchor Inn.
They serve a buttery crab casserole there
called Sean Digger’s Liscannor Bay Crab
Crumble, named for the fisherman who
delivers the crabs. It really shouldn’t be
missed. —ROBB WALSH
WILD &
CRABBY
in Lahinch
STAY
Occupying a mid-18th-century manor
house, Moy House overlooks Lahinch
Bay from its perch atop rolling fields
and woodlands (rooms from $220;
moyhouse.com). While you’re on
Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way, get to the
hauntingly beautiful Cliffs of Moher, a
stretch of five miles of sheer sea cliffs
with verdant headlands overlooking
the Atlantic (cliffsofmoher.ie).
LAHINCH
Buttery Crab
Casseroles
P. 1 0 8
PH
OT
OG
RA
PH
Y:^
JU
LIA
D
UN
IN
