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The wild north-west is Ireland at its best
 If
you’re a hopeless romantic, good tidings await you in the North-West.
The Celtic Tiger may be purring contentedly, yet old Ireland the Erin
of yesteryear slumbers on.
It’s true that a rash of bungalow building has diminished the scenery
somewhat but a rural way of life continues in sweet Donegal.
It’s redolent of times past, with quiet boreens, sleepy villages
and hedgerows alive with the sound of songbirds.
Ireland’s most northerly county boasts towering cliffs, silver beaches
and glassy loughs. If you’re an angler, then you won’t need
to be told that here is one of the finest fishing areas in Europe.
Clinging to the most westerly fringes of the Old World, however, means
that balmy weather can’t be guaranteed the whole time.
In fact a typical story in the local Donegal Democrat newspaper might
very well begin: “Before it blew away, Seamus and Norah Gallagher
held a party in the marquee to celebrate their son Declan’s 18th
birthday…”
The heavy-duty weather has been battering this terrain for a million
belligerent years, but it has had its up side a dramatic, uncanny and
at times downright improbable landscape has emerged.
The almost surreal Blue Stack Mountains provide imposing climbs and the
north-west’s highest mountain Errigal lies inside the magnificent
Glenveagh National Park.
Donegal Bay provides some of the best surfing in Europe and sailing and
scuba diving lessons are available all along the north-west seaboard for
those adventurous types.
The Slieve League Cliffs overlooking Donegal Bay are quite simply one
of the most magnificent sights in the entire world.
Donegal in detail
Glenveagh National Park
The largest National Park in Ireland, Glenveagh boasts extravagant mountain
scenery as well as finely manicured parkland. Formerly an enormous private
estate, the national park is made up of glens and loughs set in rugged
mountains and bogland.
The superb white quartzite cone of Mount Errigal rises some 2,466ft above
Dunlewy Lough and Lough Nacung. From the summit are superb views across
the rest of Ulster.
The north-east end of the park has a gentler array of hills, deep peat
bogs and the swampy valley of the Owencarrow river.
Glenveagh offers some of the finest walks imaginable. The grandeur of
the original estate shines through the already impressive landscape (waterfalls
plummeting down sheer cliffs, mighty coniferous forests, whooper swans
gliding across lakes) to provide serene, supreme beauty.
Just a word of warning however on weekdays between the beginning of
September until the end of February you’re forbidden to leave recognised
footpaths or roads. It’s the deer-hunting season there’s an
extensive red deer herd and you might get mistaken for one. This is probably
spectacularly true if you have red hair.
Malin Head
Sometimes called ‘that place off the shipping forecast’,
Malin Head is as any Irish schoolchild will be able to tell you Ireland’s
most northerly point.
To be honest, it’s not the most impressive of Donegal’s must-sees,
with cliffs only rising some 200ft from the sea.
If you do decide to go in the interests of geographic rigour keep your
eyes peeled for whales. Schools regularly ‘breach’ here.
Malin Head is not only Ireland’s most northerly point (55 degrees
22 minutes north, 7 degrees 20 minutes west, fact fans) it is also the
weather station which records the highest wind speeds.
In 1961 the tail-end of a hurricane pushed the anemometer up to 113mph.
The meteorolgical station here is that small complex of low, flat-roofed
1950s buildings you can see perched on the edge of the cliffs.
Here they record everything weather-wise, from the rainfall (substantial)
to the visibility (often low) to the number of Hector Pascals about. Yup,
Hector sounds like a cartoon character but he is in fact the international
unit of atmospheric pressure.
In other words the number of Hector Pascals about decides how many ‘fine
soft days’ there are.
By the way, Malin Head is the best place in Ireland if you want to see
the Aurora Borealis, aka The Northern Lights. Should you ever be lucky
enough to see them (the guys at the weather station regularly do) it will
be one of the most awe-inspiring things you’ll ever witness.
Slieve League
This is where geology takes on a dizzying dimension.
The Slieve League Cliffs are just outside the town of Carrick in the south-west
of the county, overlooking Donegal Bay.
It’s claimed they’re the highest in Europe with a sheer drop
of 1,972ft into the Atlantic, although Croaghaun on Achill disputes the
title.
Both agree, however, that the Cliffs of Moher are mere child’s play
by comparison. And anyway, what’s a couple of hundred feet between
friends, especially when a 50mph wind threatens to dislodge you from your
vantage point.
No matter whether Slieve League is the record holder or not, this truly
is one of the most magnificent sights in Europe.
The richness in colour of the massive rock face provides visual pleasures
non-stop. Different hues in the rock formation orange, red and grey, mingled
with stains of various metallic ores accumulate with washed down clays
and soils to provide an impossibly colourful background to the restless
Atlantic below.
You may or may not want to venture along One Man’s Pass.
As the AA Illustrated Road Map of Ireland says: “The cliff scenery
is notable for its majestic grandeur and exquisite scenery… however
it is a difficult place to negotiate and should only be attempted by the
experienced.”
With a drop on one side of 1,800ft and on the other 1,000ft, you need
to have a fair head for heights to appreciate “Slieve League’s
awesome precipices.”
Other paths, not quite so scary, traverse the area. Along these ancient
byways armies have slogged, Spanish sailors from the Armada have trudged,
smugglers have carried their booty and sheep have munched their way ever
onwards.
In the last century asses and ponies carried ladies to the very top of
the cliffs.
Near the summit of Slieve League clearly marked out in the blanket of
heather is a sign, visible for many miles, saying simply Tír Éire.
This advised aircraft in the 1940s that here was a neutral country.
Forts and lookout towers from the Napoleonic wars cling to the edge and
everywhere there is the crashing sound of the ocean and the lonely call
of seabirds.
Blue Stack Mountains
The Blue Stacks are amongst Ireland’s most northerly mountains,
ranging roughly from Donegal Town northwards towards Letterkenny.
The highest point is Blue Stack itself a “here I am, here I stand”
sort of mountain which reaches some 2,219 ft.
Surrounded by Banagher Hill, Croaghaniwore and Lavaghmore, it overlooks
dark Lough Eske.
Blue Stack stands just outside Donegal Town famous for its 15th century
castle, tweeds and traditional music pubs away.
The Ulster Way threads through the mountains you’ll pass impressive
waterfalls, bogland filled with wild flowers and experience simply staggering
views.
The Rosses
A vast expanse of rocky hummocks interspersed with a patchwork of loughs
and tightly-walled fields, The Rosses is one of the last strongholds of
the Gaeltacht.
The area is bounded by the Gweedore River to the north, the Gweebarra
River to the south, the Derryveagh Mountains to the east and the Atlantic
to the west.
Dungloe in the north of The Rosses is a fairly quiet town based around
one main street. A multitude of pubs are available for your perusal but
the craic only really gets going during the Mary From Dungloe Festival,
Donegal’s attempt at a local Miss World Contest. This year it’s
due to take place throughout July. Check out www.maryfromdungloe.com for
more iformation.
One of the main attractions in Crolly, in the south of The Rosses, is
Leo’s Tavern.
It’s famous for its traditional sessions led by Leo, father of Clannad
and Enya.
Cruit Island, linked to the mainland just north of Burtonport by bridge,
boasts one of Ireland’s most scenic golf courses, as well as sandy
beaches. |
