Exploring the Sea Cliffs of Donegal

Taking one day off from work and combining it with the weekend, I decided to do a three day tour of the Donegal region of Ireland, located at the northwest part of the country. Prior to this trip, I hadn’t heard much about it and didn’t know anyone that had travelled this way, the better I figured, I can just travel without expectations and see what the area brings. 

We loaded up the car and set off from Dublin where for the next few hours we travelled across different counties, such as Meath and Cavan, showing us glimpses of the Irish countryside. One of the things that I’ve noticed over my time here in Ireland is that it doesn’t matter how small the village is that you drive through, every village has at least 2 churches and usually no less that 5 pubs, so there’s always a good choice to stop for a quick pub meal and drink before the trip continues.

Our trip brought us into Northern Ireland however, blink and you would have missed it as there was nothing that really showed that we were crossing from Ireland to the United Kingdom. After less than an hour in the Northern Ireland however, we crossed back into Ireland and county Donegal and arrived shortly thereafter at our destination, the town of Letterkenny where we checked into our B&B and spent the night at the McGinleys Bar, having a few Guinness and listening to local traditional Irish musicians.

Our next morning started with a full Irish Breakfast, which is now a tradition for me whenever I travel around the country and stay at a B&B. This normally consists of Sausages, Bacon, Black Pudding, Fried Eggs, Grilled Tomatoes, Mushrooms, Baked Beans, some form of fried potato pancake a usually a nice piece of bread on the side. It’s a great breakfast to have whilst travelling, but I could never have it on a daily basis as it’s very intense. 

Our first stop of the day is Fort Dunree which is a historic fort on a rugged cliff overlooking the ocean, or at least we think it does. During our visit unfortunately it was soo misty and foggy that we could barely see anything but yes, it probably has amazing panoramic views, shame we didn’t see them.

We continued our journey and soon the mist started to clear and the sun came out, and just in time as we came across the Mamore Gap, a beautiful mountain pass offering some outstanding views over the coastline and the ocean. Driving along this pass was hard as I kept wanting to stop every two seconds to actually enjoy the view.

But, we continued on, passing Carndonagh where we stopped and observed some ancient stone crosses before we reached Malin Head, the northernmost point in Ireland. From here we again had amazing views whilst surrounded by cliffs and we were hit by the salty sea air coming from the ocean. Before leaving the area, we made a quick stop at Farren’s Bar, which is a great little pub not far from Malin Head. A great place to relax and enjoy a pint of Guinness before we continued onwards.

We finished our afternoon by driving past Kinnagoe Bay, a beautiful bay with sandy beach along the rugged coastline. Here we watched the sunset before we started our drive to our B&B for the night. When we woke the next morning, we had breakfast, walked to the car and realised that across the B&B, there was a donkey standing there looking at us. A short time later, we were best friends and after saying goodbye, we once again hit the road.

Our first stop that morning was the Assaranca Waterfall, also known as Eas a’ Ranca, which is tucked away just near the main road. We continued along a very scenic drive through the  Glengesh Pass, driving through mountains and valleys with amazing views. Once we hit this area, we started noticing something though, all other road signs have been in both English and Gaelic, however now, the more we travel down this path, all signs seem to be in Gaelic only, making it very interesting when we arrive at t-intersections. Luckily we had a good road map with names in both languages so we found our way. 

Our final stop on our journey was at Bunglas where we were treated to majestic views over the tall sea cliffs of Slieve League, some of the highest sea cliffs in Europe. These cliffs reach heights of over 600 meters and offer some absolutely stunning views over the ocean. The hike to the top of the cliffs was an easy one along a well marked path and offered outstanding views, however nothing could prepare you for when you’re on top of the cliffs, staring down at a 600 metres drop into the ocean. I tried to take photos but these just didn’t do the place justice. 

That afternoon we began our journey back to Dublin, driving past cute villages and coastal towns along the Donegal coastline. We might only have had three days for this trip, however we crammed in as much as we could during these days and had an amazing time, just being away from all the hustle and bustle. And I’m honestly surprised that Donegal isn’t talked up more, the sheer beauty of the coast, mountains, waterfalls and charming villages is  exactly what you would want, however it was really nice to avoid the hords of tourists everywhere and feel like you got to experience the place by yourself. 

I absolutely loved this part of Ireland and will have to come back at some point again!