Around Glenties—Abbreviated

Darryl’s birthday had both pleasant and unexpected surprises. The beginning of our journey featured the Kilclooney Dolmen, considered one of the finest examples in Ireland. It has Ireland’s' second largest capstone at approximately 40 tons, and dates to between 4,000 to 3,000 BC. The monument is located on private sheep farmland, and we had to climb over stiles and ensure all gates were closed behind us.

Portal tombs (dolmens) consist of a single short chamber covered by a capstone, which always slopes from front to back. The angle at which the capstone slopes is usually 22 degrees. Sometimes smaller stones would have been inserted between the standing and capstones in order to achieve the correct angle. The reason why this angle was used is unknown. Like the earlier court tombs, the portal tombs were used as burial chambers after cremation.

That was the pleasant surprise. Unexpectedly, Darryl’s e-bike power controller shut down and was impossible to get started without attaching a cable we didn’t have to a power supply we obviously didn’t have. Fortunately, we had cell service, and although Seamus was hours away from us, he called a friend to pick us up. The friend was John Paul — “The Pope,” a local taxi and bus driver.

So even though the bike ride was cut short by 10 miles, John Paul offered to drive us to the coastal sites we were missing—among them, the amazingly sculpted and wide Narin Beach at Portnoo.

Across from the beach, Inishkeel Island lies just off the mainland. The Island is accessible on foot at low tide. John Paul said that some techies moved in from California and elsewhere during COVID, and brought internet to the otherwise very remote island.

At Maas, we looked across to a bulb of land jutting into the sea, and John Paul pointed out the tallest sand dune in Europe.Read more