(Part of) The West Atlantic Way

This morning, after grabbing coffee from a little shop just around the corner (including the most delicious scone with clotted cream and jam for breakfast), we headed off for the most northern point in Ireland - Malin Head to see Banba’s Crown and Hell’s Hole. The Irish really know how to name things. When we first arrived, we headed out for the short walk to Hell’s Hole. It’s a chasm between two cliffs where the water rushes in. It was cool but I think the name overhypes it a little. We continued walking just a touch further and found another little spot that I enjoyed more than Hell’s Hole, though they were very similar. Then, we walked up to Banba’s Crown which is just this old tower but has beautiful views of the ocean (actually, I think it’s called the Inner Sea off the Coast of Scotland or something incredibly descriptive like that…)

After taking in the scenery for a bit, it was back in the car to head to Glenveagh National Park to check out its castle and nature trails. The drive was easy enough, taking us through some sweet little villages with charming high streets, though we didn’t stop at all. In the early afternoon, we made it to the park, got parked and started the 3.6km walk up to the castle grounds. We took a few minutes to go through the castle, which actually isn’t a castle; just a hunting lodged that looks like a castle and tucked in around some of the gardens. Then, it was time to start our 8km nature walk. 16km, actually, because that is just one way. We walked along the Lough for a good amount of time (right to the end, actually) and also saw two small houses and a little waterfall. Eventually, the landscape got pretty repetitive and because we didn’t want to get back to the car too late, we turned around just shy of the 5km mark. When you add on the walk up from the car park, we did about 17km total in the park, which was a pretty good amount of km.

We headed for the hotel, which was on the edge of Letterkenny and near absolutely nothing. We ducked out of the hotel to a pizza truck to get a couple of pizzas and some cider from the off licence. It worked out well enough because we were tired and needed to have the feet up for a bit. Also, now we can say we’ve been in Letterkenny.

This morning, we started making our way south by starting with a walk in the Poisoned Glen. The rain has been holding off and our luck was almost definitely going to run out today but there was a chance we’d drive through the rain instead of hiking in it. We found the Poisoned Glen easily enough but I should have done a bit more reading because we were in runners and it was definitely more of a hiking boot situation. We ended up bailing out of the 4km round trip hike before the 1km mark because there were a lot of marshy spots and we were having trouble discerning the trail. Of course, almost immediately upon turning back, I made a bad choice with where I stepped and went into a mud puddle. That was super fun. As we were getting back, about 12,000 seniors were arriving to hike the glen - all with walking poles and head-to-toe waterproof gear. I hope they enjoyed themselves… This was also when it started to rain. We did manage to spend a couple of minutes at the Dunlewey church ruins, which looked pretty spectacular in the gloomy day, before the rain got to be too much and we headed on our way to Maghera Strand beach.

This is where the rain really got us. It’s a good thing it was just a beach to explore versus a hiking trail. We did put on the hiking boots (and fresh socks for me, too) and got all zipped into our rain jackets and headed into the beach. It was a beach - with the tide way, way out - so we were able to wander quite extensively and get right into one of the caves along the side. The wind was whipping up the waves and the rain was coming down and it was a rather desolate experience (although we were far from the only idiots who showed up today.) Even with the rain and wind, it was worth the stop. As we made our way to our next stop, Sliabh Liag, we took the Glengesh pass, which took us through some of the nicest countryside in Donegal county (as per the guide book.) It was pretty good but the highlight was definitely stopping to talk to some sheep. They had a LOT to say. I didn’t understand any of it but I think they wanted snacks. Same, sheep, same.

Eventually, we came out at Sliabh Liag’s parking area. Specifically, we thought it was the upper parking area, which is what we were aiming for so we could start our 10km hike. Turns out, it was just the lower parking area. We did get sent up (it’s very limited parking up there) with a warning that visibility was awful but we might be able to do a bit of walking into the mountains. So up we went. And it was pretty foggy. But there was a coffee truck so we got hot beverages and some insight from the fella running the show that shortly before, you couldn’t even see the fence, let alone any of the cliffs. He thought the visibility would be good in about an hour so we headed up to the viewpoint and then onto the trail to see how far we could get. We got about 1.5km. The clouds were lifting but we just kept climbing and after a bit, the trail wasn’t as obviously marked and we couldn’t always see the next trail marker. We didn't' think it was a good idea to get lost in the Irish mountains so we turned back early for the second time today. It was the right choice. When we got back to the viewpoint, there was way more visibility! So we looked around again (I got another round of hot chocolate) and tried to make friends with the lawn maintenance crew that was working but they were either skittish babies or too interested in eating grass (yes, they were sheep.)

Finally, we returned to the car and headed off for the night to Sligo. We only arrived at 6:30 and we have to be off early tomorrow because we have 2 hours of driving before our first hike but it’s too bad we didn’t get a bit of time here, it’s a cute city and the food seems really good (such good fish and chips!) But, alas, it’s not in the cards. Tomorrow, we continue to make our way along the western coast. down to Galway, which is our base for a few days. We are doing two short hikes tomorrow, I think? I can’t really remember but I feel like maybe I should check on that before turning in for the night…