Mullaghmore Head then Rossnowlagh - 14 May 2023

14 May 2023 - Mullaghmore Head & Rossnowlagh - Co Donegal

It was a bit sad leaving the Glencar Waterfalls carpark - such a lovely find!

Me driving today. First stop Circle K to fill up with diesel - €1.45/ltr. I also asked if we could fill up with water, the young guy couldn’t really care less - just said it was slow. He wasn’t wrong - took a good ten minutes to fill - plus it was chilly out in the wind, and not in the sun.

There was even a man at the entrance to Circle K selling lottery tickets. It must be big business in Ireland, as when we’ve been through lots of towns, there have been boards up with the winning numbers.

Then stopped off at a SuperValu for a stock up. Quite a few of the SuperValu have lots of ready prepared meals. Bought a few to have a try. Cooking is ok in Dave, but not if it uses too many pots and pans - that means too much washing up, then too much water used - good enough excuse?!

Haven’t got over how expensive food is here. One normal size tin of peaches in natural juice - €2.45, a bag of Bassetts Murray mints - €3.15, even a punnet of blueberries is €5 - another €100 spent!

From there we drove to another signature discovery point at Mullaghmore Head back in County Sligo. It’s a small fishing village. It also hosts international surfers in search of ‘prowlers’ - big waves which can reach up to 30m - surfers are towed out by jet ski.

Unsurprisingly, nothing is mentioned in any of the literature given to us - but in our Rick Steves book he explains that it was just off Mullaghmore bluff that on 27 August 1979, the IRS detonated a radio-controlled bomb on the vacation yacht of Lord Mountbatten (79 year old second cousin of Queen Elizabeth II), killing him and members of his family. If we’d driven around the peninsula, we would have missed the tiny memorial near the cliff edge.

I remember Norma and Derek taking us to some kind of military show in the mid 1970s, and Derek pointed out Lord Mountbatten sitting near us. (Gary - do you remember anymore? I just remember lots of bands and horses…)

It was a blowy walk! Was chuffed to see and hear a whitethroat today, no photo evidence - was too quick! Back to Dave for a good fresh seeded baguette for lunch!

Then a short drive to the Creevykeel Court Tomb, which Tintin wasn’t bothered about seeing! In fairness - to us heathens, it’s just a group of rocks together. Maybe it just needed a guide to help our imaginations! Very peaceful.

It does make me wonder - but signs like these are in every carpark - are there thieves everywhere?!

Another 30 minutes or so drive to Rossnowlagh Beach. We weren’t sure whether we could park here, some Park4night reviews were talking about it firstly having a 2m height barrier, plus that the gates close overnight (not a problem for us). Looks like the barrier has been securely cable tied open, so maybe only used for the summer season? Lots of signs saying no camping - does a moho equate to camping?

Went for a walk along the beach (up to 10,000 steps). Back to wearing coats it’s so windy. People kite surfing, body boarding and swimming - didn’t fancy a swim myself!

They allow cars and campers on the beach - but not overnight!

Walking back, the new houses look soulless, and as previously mentioned - not a fan of static homes all jumbled together.

Managed three counties today, Sligo, a bit of Leitrim and now in Donegal for our final county before Northern Island.

It’s threatened to rain a few times today, best of the weather early morning - just very chilly in the wind now. Maximum temperature of 12° to look forward to tomorrow. I’ve so packed the wrong clothes!