Spring 2023

Donegal, Slieve League then Malin Beg - 15 May 2023

15 May 2023 - Donegal/Slieve League/Malin Beg

Were Billy no mates again overnight, but the gates weren’t shut, and the wind died down a little - a good night.

This is what happens when husband hears a new noise on the roof - has to crawl out through the hatch - after a rum! - to investigate! Glad to confirm he didn’t need to do anything 🙂

Tintin driving today - quick 15 minutes into Donegal. Parking was only 30c per hour - and they had rubbish bins! About the most mohos we’ve seen altogether since being here.

The Abbey is in ruins, but went to see the Castle. Tintin said one adult, and one old one - she did us both for ‘group rate’ - so was €8 for us both.

The Donegal Castle was originally the fortified base of the mighty O’Donnell clan, built around 1500. Around 1600 the English defeated the O’Donnells and made the castle closer to what exists today. The floor is the original stone one, the walls are 10 foot thick on the ground floor. There is a spiral ‘trip staircase’ - steps uneven to trip up the unsuspecting - they wind clockwise to give the right handed defender the advantage.

They must have been very short a few hundred years ago judging from the original doorway height!

The fireplace is regarded as one of the finest in Ireland!

The top floor has historical exhibits - under 40 tons of Irish oak beams - with only wooden pegs holding it all together!

From there a wander around the town. Quite small, but had a nice feeling.

On the off chance they might have an available appointment, went into Studio 5 about a hair trim. The lady said she’d fit me in about 30 minutes later. In the meantime, Tintin finally bought his flat cap! Went back at noon. Thought it was good value, wash, cut and blow dry for €38 - also hope it might be a good cut, will know more after a few days of ‘doing’ it myself! It’s been so windy here, it never looks how I want it to!

We met Janet and Steve from Cheshire, and chatted for a while. They’d seen us yesterday at Mullaghmore, and previously at Easky and had wondered when we’d actually have a chat. Steve, hope you caught some fish!

From there, drove to Killybegs - one of only two places in Donegal that Tintin could find selling LPG. Topped up again. (Janet & Steve, make sure you know how much to pay, you fill up in the carpark below, no link to computer in shop up above!)

From there tried the carpark in Killybegs - another height restriction, so stopped off on the side of the road to have a look at all the fishing ships. Went into the information office, and a nice man explained that the ships will be here until September - then fish until March. He also said that the next signature discovery point was only about 30 minutes drive away. For some reason, thought it was much further away.

The landscape is forever changing, was all trees, green and fertile, then back to barren looking scrubland. The roads were very undulating, probably being laid on top of the bog!

It’s fair to say that the roads leading to the carpark for Slieve League were quite narrow and steep! Looks like we could have driven all the way out to the headland, but wanted a walk. €5 to park for 2 hours, which was just about enough time. The top of Sliabh Liag - Slieve League is over 600m!

Another climb! The long walk from the headland would have taken over 90 minutes, but we didn’t arrive until 4pm, and knew we’d have to drive at least 30 minutes afterwards.

Climbed a fair way. Dean had an outing. Was doing so well until he had his first crash - right near me as I was walking back! Luckily he had a soft landing in the bushes! Video at the end.

The views were fantastic, perhaps you would experience the sheer magnitude of height from being in a boat below, rather than looking down.

From there, drove to another discovery point at Malin Beg. Along the 7km or so of narrow road out here, I was wondering whether it would be worth it - it certainly is! Beautiful beach below us. Exploring will be for tomorrow. Whilst Dean was up again, the people behind came forward as they’d seen dolphins! Quickly grabbed the binoculars - were about 8 of them for quite a while. Lovely to watch. Sadly Tintin didn’t capture them on the drone.

So pleased to be able to shove the lasagne in the oven for a quick tea tonight, as we’re much later than usual, although sun doesn’t set until 21.30 (rises about 05.30).

Whilst chatting to some of the other campers, we saw Luna, a delightful 9 month old Cockerpoo whose young Irish owners are hiring a motorhome and exploring for a week.