Tour of Co.Donegal, Ireland, July 1996.

[Garry Lee]

I live in Cork Southern Ireland, and went on a tour of Donegal, last week,
with my wife Mary.
Donegal is 250m from Cork, and that and its reputation for really bad
weather had hitherto deterred me from visiting it.
My wife and I drove to Donegal town (6hrs driving on Irish roads) and
dumped the car. We headed west towards Glencolumcille. The roads were
quite busy initially as it was the weekend of the twelfth of July. This is
the national feastday of the North of Ireland Unionists who celebrate the
defeat of King James by William of Orange at the Battle of the Boyne in
1690. The fact that King Billy had a Vatican Batallion fighting for him
and that he was an ally of that Antichrist, the Pope, is conveniently
forgotten by these great libertarians and defenders of religious freedom!
The Catholics of Northern Ireland get out in droves for this weekend as
they don't want to be deafened by Gorilla-like chest thumping.
As we proceeded west the traffic quietened down. We had a frightful greasy
lunch in a pub. We had a look at Killybegs harbour. This is one of
Ireland's biggest fishing ports and large factory ships of varying origins
were berthed there.
Proceeded west and took small scenic road at Shalwy. Magic began. This was
incredibly picturesque with wonderful sea-views and tiny cottages and was
seriously hilly. Donegal is, we discovered, seriously hilly with lots of
bits of 15% plus. A minimum requirement is a 28x28 gear (27 inches). We
had such gearing but I would recommend 20 inches for real comfort, on some
of the places I'm going to describe. We went out to Muckross head where
there was a great sea view, tranquillity and a great heavy sea breaking on
some rocks. Very atmospheric. Well worth going to.
Savage climb after that. After Kilcar we took a second coast road which
was less exciting and showed the overbuilding of holiday homes which we
were to see in many areas of Donegal in the next days.
The weather was misty and we cycled to Glencolumcille and checked in at a
B&B. We ate average food in the only proper restaurant in this village.
This is an Irish speaking area and very good for hillwalking. The next day
we continued to Malinmore which is unremarkable and to Malin Beg where
Silver strand, one of the most beautiful beaches in the world is found at
the end of the road. This 500yd long crescent of golden sand is 3/4
surrounded by green-covered cliffs and has incredible atmosphere. There
was no-one on it. Back to Malinmore and continued to Carrick where we
turned left to Teelin and thence to Bunglas. A right turn after the Rusty
Mackerel pub led to the very difficult climb (front wheel coming off the
road in places) to the clifftop road overlooking Slieve League, a mountain
which lunges straight down to the sea, forming a 601m cliff at one point.
Said to be the highest sea-cliff in Europe but as the top is curved, I
would rate the cliffs of Moher as more impressive as they plunge straight
down from a flat top. But very impressive just the same. An American
tourist on top told me that I must see Horn Head which he assured me was
more "awesome".
We headed back to Carrick, having sandwiches in a cafe en route. Headed
for Port, a dead-end seaside spot, really off the beaten track, which the
lady in the cafe told us we must visit. She was an Irish speaker and my
wife and I who both speak it had fun talking to her. The Northern accent
is very different to our Southern Irish accent but the language is almost
the same. Port was reached by severe climbing and an almost unpaved narrow
road. Bumpy bumpy bumpy, even for Ireland. It was an astonishing place. A
gorgeous stony beach with rocks everywhere, cliffs on both sides, with
huge views out to sea, the remnants of an old village on high and piles of
huge rounded white stones on the beach. Magic.
Several people there, all hearing about it by word of mouth. Cycled back
to Glengesh pass. En route saw a tourist sailboarding on a mountain lake!.
The road to Glengesh was really rough. Glengesh pass is gorgeous and
deserves its reputation. Very steep on way down possibly 20%. We headed
through the honky tonk town of Ardra to Glenties where we holed up in the
Highlands Hotel. Glenties is a spotless small town which has many times
won Ireland's tidy town contest. Traditional musicians playing in the bar.
Huge feed in Restaurant. We discover that Northern Irish cooking
concentrates on quantity rather than quality. This we found everywhere.
The food in e.g. Co.Cork is much more sophisticated with top class French
etc. style cooking available. Not here but it's more than edible. I
imagine that the number of French tourists who go to Cork and Kerry,
compared to Donegal, have a lot to do with this state of affairs.
The next day the weather was really dull, sky heavily overcast and
hopeless for sightseeing. This probably made our spin through the most
horribly overbuilt areas of the Rosses and Gweedore seem even worse. We
did not enjoy this at all. The sun peeped out as we approached Bloody
Foreland headland and it was pretty enough there but still had horrible
bungalows. Further onwards we could see Tory Island out to sea. We reached
Dunfanaghy and checked into the Carrig Rua Hotel. This was a gorgeous town
and the sun had come out. There was a fabulous big beach.
The next day we cycled up the Horn Head drive to see what ou erstwhile
American friend had been talking about. It was a VERY difficult climb with
15% bits, or worse. Nothing much appeared for ages until on high, we
rounded a bend to meet a mega-view. Headlands disappearing into the
distance. We didn't walk to the actual headland where there are huge, and
dangerous cliffs but the view on the circuit was terrific. Well worth
going to see. No houses up here. It's a nature reserve. We returned to
Dunfanaghy and headed west. Cycled into Ards forest park and cycled along
to one of the views. This was a lovely quiet place. We proceeded to
Creeslough and then past Doe Castle, from which Red Hugh O'Donnell had
been kidnapped more than 300yrs previously, by the English, to Rossapenna
and the Atlantic Drive. This drive around the tip of the Rosguill
peninsula is difficult to cycle because of steep gradients but is
undoubtedly one of the prettiest cycles there is. Stunning sea-views. I
could not recommend it highly enough. We headed back to Milford and across
the base of the next peninsula to Rathmullen where we were lucky to be
able to check into the famous old country house Hotel, Rathmullen House.
This was terrific with a lovely beach walk right on Lough Swilly (a fjord,
really) and a famous restaurant which lived up to its reputation. Superb
food. This is a terrific place to stay. I had a lovely walk along the
beach early in the morning with the bay lit by the rising sun and the mist
still present.
The weather continued lovely and we cycled out to Fanad head along the
coast road. French tourist were formidabling at the views. So did we. Some
vicious gradients had to be overcome until we reached Fanad head. This is
a lighthouse with a lovely view of a headland across the bay.
We continued around the peninsula until we reached Milford again. The spin
was generally lovely but wearying because of the constant small hills.
From there we cycled on really quiet roads to Kilmacrenan, a small village
and from there to Church Hill, aptly named as it is entered on a 15%
gradient which almost did for my wife. From here we cycled past Glenveigh
national Park, which was closing for the day, to Dunlewy. This area is
unpopulated and covered by bogland, mountainous, and rather good
scenically. There is a long but very gradual climb. We descended and
eventually checked into the Gweedore Hotel on the very spectacular Bunbeg
beach. This is a most picturesque spot. The view from the restaurant is
sensational, especially with the lovely twilight we had.
The weather continued very good the next day and we cycled to Dunglow,
along the main road and then around Crohy head. This was an unexpected
treat. It is not marked as scenic on maps but was brilliant. The road was
very poor and had, again, some really steep stuff. Very quiet area, great
expansive sea views.
We headed, all on minor roads to Lettermacaward and had lunch in a small
but excellent restaurant run by Germans, The Shed.
From here we headed North West through Doocharry to Church Hill again.
This was a great spin. Quiet gradually rising valley with some old
thatched cottages, giving way to mountain and deserted moorland. Great
view of National Park near the top. From Church Hill we headed to
Letterkenny, one of the biggest towns in Donegal with all of 7500
inhabitants. It however has a main street which is 3/4 mile long!. We
stayed in Gallagher's Hotel. Lousy. Terribly noisy at night. Poor sleep.
Scruffy Hotel. BUT, had nice dinner in a restaurant called Sarah's Bistro.
The next day we cycled on small roads through Raphoe, a lovely town to
Strabane, and on the south side of the river to Ballybofey, thence via the
over-rated Barnesmore Gap to finish up in Donegal.
During all this time we met only about 20 cycletourists. 2 were English, 2
Dutch and the rest Germans.

Was it a good tour? Yes, but we were very lucky with the weather which is
often dodgy here.
Is the terrain difficult? It certainly is. I find this type of terrain
more difficult than the Alps where I've often toured. You will need really
low gears to enjoy it and at a very minimum 28c tyres, and preferably 32c
or 37c. Suspension would not be a bad idea.

How was the scenery? Lots of it was sensational. Not all, but when all is
great you get bored.

How cheap is this area? For Ireland, cheap. B&B 12 pounds upwards. Lots of
cheap but nasty restaurants. Some better ones, few great ones.

Final summary.
This is hard cycling but if you get reasonable weather, you will never
forget it. The roads are in general, quiet.

Garry Lee
Cork.
Ireland.