Day 136: County Donegal

Up and out a bit late today after another good conversation with our hosts. It was Saturday and they weren't in a hurry to get anywhere, while we only had a fairly short drive today and weren't in a huge hurry either.

First stop was just nearby, an old Celtic ring fort from the 5th century or so. It had been restored rather poorly in the late 20th century so there's not a lot of heritage stuff there, but it was an interesting spot nonetheless. Fantastic views of the entire district from here, probably 30+ kilometres in all directions - no wonder it was used as a watch tower!

Had a quick lunch at a sandwich shop in the town of Letterkenny, before continuing south-west across Donegal. Lots of great countryside and views here, grey slate mountains covered in moss and peat bogs. Very dramatic, roughly on par with the Scottish Highlands.

Arrived at our main destination for the day at around 3pm, the cliffs of Slieve League. These are enormous cliffs, apparently the highest in Europe, dropping 300 metres sheer down to the water. We did a bit of hiking along the cliff edges, looking at various vantage points and taking some photos as it was very dramatic and picturesque. Not too many people around either which was nice.

Eventually the slight drizzle got to us and we decided to call it a day, heading back to the car. As we drove back down to the lower carpark, hundreds of people were walking up the trail from the tour bus parking lot, so we'd definitely timed it well! It's sad, but nothing crushes my spirit quite like the sight of several coaches pulling up at the same time.

Drove on to our accommodation on the southern coast of Donegal, just outside the eponymous capital city. This was a large modern country house, where we were staying in what was essentially the guest wing. We had our own bedroom and en suite, plus our own hallway, stairs and lounge room with huge windows and a fantastic view across the bay. Our host wasn't the lady of the house, but her 16 y/o daughter who ran the AirBNB as her summer job. Fair enough I guess!

The room itself was great and it was really nice to stay in a modern place after so many old farmhouses and buildings. We were provided tea, coffee and biscuits on arrival, and she even offered to look after Schnitzel while we went out for dinner! Which we accepted of course.

Drove into Donegal for dinner, where we went to Ye Olde Castle Inn. Fun fact: although we think of it as "yee", it's literally just "the". Earlier versions of English used the letter Y to denote a "TH" syllable. Digression aside, we had some good food and headed back to our house in time for the sunset over the water - though it's still around 10pm!Read more