Baillyliffin is a tiny town in the northernmost county of the Republic, County Donegal. You walk the main street, past the Strand hotel, and just keep going down the hill a few blocks to the sea. The beach is narrow and littered with rocks and seaweed and the surf is cold and wild. It's October, it's windy, and it's been raining. People live here, year–round, in humble homes, scattered up the hillside, fronting on the sea. No elegant trophy beach houses here, shuttered for winter, abandoned by owners for tropical climes until spring can warm things up a bit. Plus, here they call it the "seafront." I like that better than "beach". Standing in the cold, damp sand, with mist on your face, you find yourself face–front with the sea — and all that it offers up as well as all that it keeps hidden from you.
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