Taking a few days off this week for fear of total burnout I headed in my favourite direction: west; to the lands of the mountain people, the tribesmen, to a landscape that has inspired so many through the centuries. Taking the M6, I headed southwest to Doolin, the gateway to the Cliffs of Moher.

Doolin is a place I love, there’s the pier to the Aran Islands, the walk to the cliffs and all manner of pubs and guesthouses.

It’s a village that makes me think of summer weather and time spent with friends and significant others.

I only saw it for the first time in 2015 – the result of being an emigrant for over 10 years and not taking the chance to explore my own home until I came back to live here.

I hold Doolin in high regard, but it is the cliffs I love the most. Once a year I walk or run the length of them.

There is something in that cliff trail that brings the wonder of tomorrow back into a soul.

It goes beyond sheer beauty; it is some sort of energy transfer from the mighty ocean crashing below coming all the way from America.

The walk was wonderful, but in all my hours in Doolin and the Cliffs of Moher, I was aware of an absence. Despite the wonderful attractions, the village was deserted. There was neither shop, cafe or gift store open.

In my four-hour walk from Doolin to the cliffs and back I met a total of three people. We all remarked to one another that we had never seen the place so quiet, how Covid was to blame.

We all wondered how life would be from now on.

The Cliffs of Moher are beautiful but it is the cosmopolitan nature of them that makes them so attractive – you can meet Americans, Germans, Indians and fellow countrymen there.

That was the fact that dawned on me as I made my way to the local Daybreak shop to get some rashers for my tea.

“It’s like a ghost town here,” I remarked to the friendly shop assistant.

“In a normal year, we are busy with the Yanks from March onwards,” she explained.

I nodded my head in agreement.

“There’s a lot of people in this village who haven’t made any money in a long time,” she said.

“It must be bad,” I replied.

“You’ve no idea – pubs, BnBs, hotels, guest houses and now we are worried even when people do come back they will stay in Airbnbs as they won’t want to stay with hosts.”

As I handed over a crisp €20 note ,I felt a pang of the worry of the village.

Tourism is the biggest native industry on the island, employing over 265,000 people.

Prior to the great sickness coming into the world, 2019 was a record year for Irish Tourism with some 11.3 million visitors, an extra 100,000 visitors on 2018.

Total tourism on the island in 2019 generated some €8.9bn, a figure that has kept areas like Doolin alive and strong on the western seaboard.

The majority of the tourists came from Britain, the US, Germany and France, with the Americans spending the most money while here.

“You’d miss the yanks,” I said to the shop assistant as I put my rashers and sausages into a carry bag.

“I haven’t heard a foreign accent in over a year,” she said.

Leaving Doolin behind I made for Fanore beach to cook up my evening fry and watch the sunset.

Fanore is a beautiful village and as I cooked my black pudding I had the beach to myself. It too was empty, devoid of any people. Even the locals, it seems, are still caught up in the grip of Covid, afraid to venture out for fear what might happen.

I had hoped to wild camp somewhere along the coast, but the weather was turning harsh and I decided then that perhaps it was best if I made my way back to Longford. There simply was nowhere to lay one’s head.

Tourism had an awful year in Ireland in 2020 with tens of thousands of job losses and huge revenue slumps, but it is the work of recovery that will tell the tale.

Our own domestic tourism will help somewhat this summer and the usual haunts of Kerry, Dublin and the North will be busy for a few weeks. As to the greater industry, that is a different story.

As I drove away from Doolin I kept thinking about all the households who had not got any money coming through their door for months now.

Will they go back to being a B&B or perhaps they have found other work now, other ways to make a few bob. Part of me couldn’t blame them if they looked at other work.

As to the future of tourism, well three people on the Cliffs of Moher doesn’t make a summer. There’s a lot of work to be done to get back on track.

Here’s hoping these vaccines can bring our British and American cousins back and help showcase the natural beauty and wonders of the emerald isle once again.