One of the 50 Top Walks in Ireland (Christopher Somerville)

A glorious winter’s morning on Carne jetty, with a peerless blue sky plastered over the County Wexford coast. We ran along the shore like a pair of fools, then sauntered arm in arm on the sands, letting the great curve of the beach draw the eye on along the low sandy cliffs to vanishing point a couple of miles ahead.

Out at Sea the dark upturned hull of the Whilkeen Rock broke the small waves into foam, and on the strand lay ancient boulders of granite, hulking and sea-smoothed, criss-crossed with thick raised seams like the back of a much-flogged old salt.

Once we got to Greenore Point the strands came alive with hurrying, stooping, pattering birds: dunlin, turnstones, sanderlings, cormorants with outheld wings. The nondescript, blackish rocks off the point were ancient when Noah was a lad. They have been lying here for 1,700,000,000 years. 
That was something to picture as we turned the corner of the headland and made for Rosslare Harbour over crunchy carpet of clean-picked crab and mussel shells.

WALK DIRECTIONS; From Carne Pier, walk north along to Rosslare Harbour – It’s that simple! NB It’s best to do this walk on a falling tide. High tide can make St Helens Pier and Greenore Point impassable, but you can detour inland from St Helens to Rosslare Harbour.

LENGTH: 5 Miles; allow 2 – 3 hours Grade: Easy CONDITIONS: Sandy strands or costal path