A seaside stroll and a steamy bowl of fresh mussels is the treat we’re craving now

Longing for a taste of the briny breeze?
If you’re already tired of being cooped up indoors, picture this: a crisp winter day, the tang of the sea on the wind, and you, ambling along a coastal pathway with a hearty appetite and a craving that only the ocean can satisfy.
Forget about chestnuts roasting on an open fire; we’re all about that seaside stroll and a steamy bowl of fresh mussels this Christmas.
The best place to get ’em? Ballycotton, of course.
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Happily, local seafood slingers The Trawlerboyz are serving up the goods at Blackbird Ballycotton throughout the coming week before they close for the entire month in January.
It’s a Christmas treat that’s a little off the beaten path but we promise it will warm your belly and soothe your soul.
The Ballycotton Cliff Walk is about 3,5km each way (it’s not a loop so it’s about 7km in total). When you’re suitably exercised, find a space on a bench out the back of the Blackbird and order yourself a seafood feast of mussels in white wine cream sauce served with a hunk of sourdough or tempura prawns and calamari with sweet chili dip.
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There are also some prawn skewers with satay sauce or a classic fish and chips.
While you’re there, you might as well plan your return visit; spend €50 on vouchers before Christmas and you’ll receive €60 worth to spend in 2024.

