April 2018 - Planning the trip

Northern Headlands

The Wild Atlantic Way - Dunegal 2018

Back in June 1988 I spend three weeks walking and hitch-hiking from Cork to Galway then on to Belfast. I have many, many wonderful memories of this special time and I have always wanted to complete the journey along the west coast. My aim in this blog is to share my preparations in the hope that it might inspire you to visit this wonderful and sometimes overlooked part of Ireland. It took me a few weeks to sort out our route and accommodation but if you don't want to plan everything yourself contact Seamus at Walking Donegal

It would take many weeks to complete my 1988 walk from Galway, then around Mayo, Sligo and Donegal, more time than I can afford away from family and work, so I've convinced a very good friend of mine Tim, to spend a week walking the Wild Atlantic Way around Dunegal at the end of June 2018.

The Wild Atlantic Way is the world’s longest defined coastal touring route. From Malin Head in County Donegal, the country’s most northerly point, to Mizen Head in County Cork, the most southerly point, the route weaves and winds across 2,500km of beautiful coastline.

The Wild Atlantic Way website is the route’s official tourism information source and is operated by Fáilte Ireland, the National Tourism Development Authority.

Our plan is to walk about 170 Km (105 miles) the whole length of Donegal along the very top of Ireland for 9 days. The walk will be challenging, averaging over 22 Km (14 miles) per day after a couple of softer days to allow us to get used to the weight of the rucksacks and rising to 26 Km on day 6. An I'm sure that the Atlantic weather will bring it's own challenges.

We start the journey from Stansted Airport just north of London to Dunegal Airport via Dublin, then start the walk from there. Landing on the small airstrip at Dunegal Airport, voted the second most scenic airstrip in the world, will be the start of our adventure.

Blue = Walking   Green = Public transport

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Day 1 - Saturday 23rd  June: Stansted to Meenlaragh

Stansted to Dublin

An early start will probably follow a sleepless night worrying if we planned enough but it will be worth it. I have shared our preparations in this section of the blog, and hopefully this will help others to explore this wonderful and sometimes ignored part of the world that is so close to us, but will feel a million miles away from work and day to day life at home in Hertfordshire, England.

Dublin to Dunegal Airport

Donegal, not content with being voted the coolest place in the world to visit in 2017 by National Geographic Traveller, has now had the landing strip at its regional airport in Carrickfinn voted the second most scenic in the world.

Dunegal Airport to Atlantic View B&B Meenlaragh

Our 170 Km walk starts from the airport to Bunbeg to Leo's Tavern, the family home of Clannad and Enya. Given my music collection, a quick pint there will probably feel more like a pilgrimage than an excuse for my first pint of proper Guinness. Tabhairne Leo (Leo's Tavern) in Meenaleck +353 7495 48143 http://leostavern.com/

Our original plan was to continue the walk from Leo's Tavern to Bunbeg on the west coast, then take the ferry from there to Tory the next morning. Unfortunatly the new ferry company is only sailing from Magheraroarty harbour on the north coast, so we had to make a last minute change of route. It's nearly 31 Km (19 miles) from  the airport to Meenlaragh on the north coast and given that we land around 14:20 (if there are no flight delays) it will be too late in the day to walk to the north coast. From my research, it looks like there are no buses running on Saturday afternoon, so we will need to call an airport taxi to take us the the north coast.

Walking the whole 250 Km (160 miles) along the Wild Atlantic Way from Dunegal Airport to Derry airport would take much more than the 9 days we have for this walk, so unfortunately we need to skip some of the route anyway.

Accommodation: Atlantic View B&B 

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Day 2 - Sunday 24th June: Tory Island

Tory Island

 Walk around the island is 10.5 Km (6.5 miles)

Photograph by king permission of Owen Clarke of  Wild Atlantic Photography 

Sailing from Magheraroarty rather that Bunbeg, as originally planned will give us more time to explore Tory Island.

The island is only about 5 kilometres (3 miles) long and 1 kilometre (0.6 miles) wide but I'm looking forward to exploring the rigged north coast. The walk around the island is 10.5 Km (6.5 mile), but maybe more important than experiencing the magnificent scenery will be meeting the people of Tory, and maybe even the artist, musician  Patsy Dan Rodgers and King of Tory

Magheraroarty to Falcarragh: 9.8 Km (6 miles)

An easy day planned for the rest of the day with a gentle 10 Km walk around the coast, bringing the days walking to 20.5 Km (12.5 miles)

Accommodation: B&B Henmy Aarts, Ballyness, Falcarragh, F92 WT04. 

Walk: 9.2Km ~ 2 Hours

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Day 3 - Monday 25th June: Falcarragh to Milford

With just one week to do the walk, unfortunately we can't walk all the northern part of the West Atlantic Way. So the hard decision had to be made to take the bus from Falcarragh to Creeslough then walk from there to Milford. There are not a lot of bus routes, well just one in this part of Dunegal, so it seems to make sense to take the bus to Creeslough. And with it being my birthday as well, it's a good day to have an easier day.

Falcarragh to Cresslough by bus

• Bus 965 10:30 from McGee's Service Station - 10:50 Car Park, Creeslough
• Bus 964 10:50 from McGee's Service Station - 11:15 Car Park, Creeslough

Bus ride from Farcarragh to Cresslogh

Cresslough to Milford: 21 Km (15 miles)

21 Km (15 mile) walk from Cresslough to Milford

From Creslough, we have a 5-6 hour walk which takes the coastal route past Doe Castle then over the hills to Milford.

Accommodation:Mulroy Woods Hotel, Letterkenny Rd, Milford

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Day 4 - 26th June: Milford to Buncrana

Milford to Rathmullan: 18 Km (11 miles)

Lough Swilly Ferry Rathmullan to Buncrana
http://swillyferry.com Afternoon sailing from Rathmullan:

• 3:00 PM
• 4:20 PM
• 5:40 PM
• 7:00 PM

Buncrana to Tullyarvan Hostel 2.7 Km (1.7 miles)

A 2.7 Km (1.7 miles) walk from the ferry terminal

Accommodation: Tullyarvan Mill Hostel, Mill Ln, Ballymacarry, Inishowen

I believe that my great-grandmother had a shop in Buncrana. It would be great if we could find out what became of M. R. Porter Grocer, but I'm sure that it is long gone.

We can't check on the ferry times because it's not running yet, but it should be back to scheduled services by June.

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Day 5 - 27th June: Buncrana to Cardonagh

21.5 Km (13.3 miles)

If the old dismantled railway line is a walkable footpath, we plan to follow this to Drumfree then take the path along the lower slopes of Slieve Snaght to Carndonagh and then to Ashdale House B&B to the north.

Accommodation: Ashdale House B&B 

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Day 6 - 28th June: Carndonagh to Malin

26 Km (16 miles) in 2 parts.

The first part from Carndonagh to the Sandrock Hostel is 19 KM (12 miles), then we drop off our rucksacks, head up to Malin Head the most northerly part of Ireland and to top of our walk. There is also a slightly shorter route around Soldiers Hill, if we need to take it, that would reduce the first part of the walk to 17 Km (10.5 miles)

It's another 9 Km (5.5 miles) circular walk from the hostel to Malin head if we do the loop round the headland. This will make for the longest day of the walk.

Sandrock Holiday Hostel, Ardmalin, Port Ronan Pier, Malin Head

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Day 7 - 29th June: Malin to Inishfree

20.5 Km (13 miles)

Accommodation: Inishfree Bed and Breakfast 

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Day 8 - 30th June: Inishfree to Moville

24.5Km (15 miles)

Accommodation: Moville Boutique Hostel Malin Rd, Glencrow, Moville

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Day 9 - 1st July: Moville to Derry

Looking for my grandmother's cottage

Twenty five years ago at least, my parents found the cottage in Donegal where my grandmother was born and we will be spending the morning of the last day trying to find it again. It's been difficult to get any exact details of it's location from my relatives, but the little information I have is that the cottage was possibly called Tullyard, that it was somewhere between Moville and Quigley's Point, and from the the 1911 Irish census it was in Cabry.

Google Maps and Bing Maps both show Cabry. There are a few modern farms there and tantalisingly the areal view on Bing maps seems to show a shell of a building near that location.

The other cue I have is a video that my dad took over 25 years ago of the cottage. My dad died 20 years ago, my uncle died earlier this year but didn't know where the cottage was and my mum suffers from dementia and has no recollection at all of visiting the cottage, so it's up to us to try and find it.

Clip from the video my dad took, showing the location of the cottage

Google Maps Street view showing similar hills and field

I contacted Sean Crumlish in Moville who runs Explore North to see if we could book a taxi to Derry and try a have a look for the cottage on the way. Not only is he willing to pick us up early on a Sunday morning, but he said that he knows someone who might know where the cottage is and that he would be passing the area and would try and find out where it was! This is yet another example of the kindness and generosity of the Irish that I have experienced while planning this trip.

Derry Tour

Peace Bridge Derry. Image by kind permission of City Walking Tours

If we can get to Derry before noon, we are planning to take a walking tour around this historic city with City Walking Tours. An hour's walk and a last Guinness before the flight back to Herfordshire, England. 

The preparations are done, the rucksack is packed. We are now ready to create memories that will last a lifetime. We will be posting daily updates on this blog and on our Facebook page

See you there.