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Moy Valley NotesBallina · River Moy · North Mayo

Ballina · River Moy · North Mayo

Ballina, the River Moy and the north Mayo coast

An independent magazine on salmon and trout fishing on the Moy, on getting to Ballina by bus and rail, on the coast and its walks, the clubs and the festivals, and on what a visitor or a new resident needs to know.

The River Moy running past green fields towards Ballina, walkers on both banks and a fish breaking the surface by the rocks
The Moy below Ballina: fields on one side, the town on the other, and fish moving in the shallows.

Three ways into north Mayo

The river, the journey and the town. Every guide on the site belongs to one of these three sections.

  1. Section 01

    River Moy Fishing

    Seasons, permits, beats and the water itself: the Moy explained for a first fishing visit, from the Ox Mountains to Killala Bay.

    Open the section

  2. Section 02

    Getting Around the West

    The bus from Dublin and Galway, the branch line through Manulla Junction, and how to move around north Mayo without a car.

    Open the section

  3. Section 03

    Visiting and Living in Ballina

    Where to stay, what to do each season, the coast, the clubs, the festivals, and the practical steps of settling in.

    Open the section

The guides, in full

Eleven guides, each built on a named public source and written for a reader who has a decision to make.

New in the magazine: a guide to public service desks, on how offices, clerks and records answer a newcomer.

New in the magazine: what a small room does to music, on reverberation, low ceilings and the noise a house makes.

New in the magazine: how to read a regulator's decision, on the parts of a published ruling and where the free official text sits.

New in the magazine: how an open records request works, on the three-day clock, the copy costs and the office that holds the file.

Five views of the valley

Where to begin when the trip is still a sketch.

River notes from further afield

Anglers who like the practical side of the sport can spend an evening with the Riffle Notes fly fishing journal, an American notebook on reading water, casting, tying, access and river conservation.

If a trip built around a single river appeals, the McCloud River fly fishing pages gather conditions, hatches, techniques, access and regulations for two trout rivers below Mount Shasta.

Readers who like history told through documents can follow the North Renfrew Record atlas, a source-led record of council minutes, newspaper archives and place timelines for the Upper Ottawa Valley.

Club golfers in the west of Ireland preparing for a competition can check their kit against The Equipment Room, a review that reads golf shoes and bags by material and by use, alongside twelve other aisles of equipment.

Travellers who plan a stay the way this magazine plans a Ballina trip can read budget stays in Tsim Sha Tsui, an independent guide to cheap beds, airport buses and daily budgets on the Kowloon side of Hong Kong.

Across the Atlantic, the Second Street Almanac keeps riverfront festival field notes on a Hudson town the way this magazine reads the Moy: a July street festival, Friday park concerts and a December stroll, each on its own published date.

The road racing fortnight has its own geography, and snaefell mountain course length is measured corner by corner in The Snaefell Review, an independent magazine on the Isle of Man TT that maps the closed public road, names the corners of the Mountain Course and follows the races from practice to the Senior TT.

Families weighing up a club or a season for a child can compare notes with school band, choir and sports seasons, an American guide that maps the year of activities, fees and eligibility.

What this magazine is

Moy Valley Notes is an independent magazine about Ballina and north County Mayo. Each article names the public source it rests on, describes every club, operator and public body in the third person, and says so when a figure or a date is not published.

The site sells nothing and keeps no directory. Corrections and sources are welcome by email. Read how the site is made or write to the editorial team.