55. Wild Donegal

Where: County Donegal, Ireland
When: February 3-4, 2018
With: Dave

After our woozy day driving through County Sligo, we arrived into the town of Ardara in County Donegal for the evening. This would be our jumping off point before tackling the beautiful Wild Donegal the next day.

Our stay would be at the Nesbitt Arms Hotel, a beautiful inn that's been around since 1838 and is located right on the main drag of the small town. We headed up to our rooms to rest up and try to fend off the bug that had knocked us down.

Despite not feeling any better, we put one foot in front of the other to get out and explore the town that evening. First, we headed to this adorable little pub called Nancy's so Dave could get some food (I couldn't even hear the word food without feeling nauseous). It was filled with narrow hallways, tiny rooms, a big bar and crooked walls. Despite the kitchen being closed, they found Dave some soup and fed him anyway. The president of the County Donegal Historical Society came over to say hello, and it couldn't have felt like a more Irish experience. We were only sad we felt so crappy!

After food, we headed down the road to The Corner House, voted Ireland's number one pub and noted for its live music every night. We tucked in as the musicians began to warm up and watched as the bar slowly filled with people that all seemed to know one another. It was so cool.  

Some of the music.

Hoping to sleep off the end of this bug, we sadly had to tuck in early, but thankfully, we woke up feeling much better the next morning (although I still wasn't hungry). We headed out and hit the road to start our exploration and said goodbye to this beautiful little village. 

We headed out towards the ocean to explore this wild countryside of Donegal. Our first stop was at the Assaranca Waterfall. 

Waterfall in action:

After this, we headed to start driving the Glengesh Pass, a winding road through the mountains of Donegal meant to give stunning views of the oceans and terrain. As we turned inland and began to weave between the high mountain tops, we could already tell this would be an epic drive. 

When we came to a clearing, it felt like we were both on top of the world and on another planet. 

Except the other planet still has sheep. 

It just felt so desolate. There weren't any other cars on the road, there was no service, and all the mountains appeared to be gone because...we were on top of them. 

And then suddenly, the road turned and the ocean opened up in front of us, preceded by a green valley dotted with little white homes. 

My favorite part of road trips are the stops you can decide to make along the way. And that's what we did at this beach. 

The most startling sight was the waves on the rocks. They were huge! And when they'd hit, the water appeared to move in slow motion as it crashed down around them. 

Only video truly does it justice. 

Just stunning. 

As was the surrounding countryside. 

More sheep. 

We turned another corner on our drive, and got this beautiful sight. My eyes were basically bugging out of my head. It's like someone just sliced off the land and let it fall into the ocean.

Another unplanned stop was to the end of a peninsula where there were a few houses and sheep, but not much else (I mean, aside from epic countryside and ocean). 

We reached the literal end of the road, parked in the lot that was there, and proceeded to take in the view that spread out below us in total awe. 

This beach is the Silver Strand, at the edge of Malin Beg. This may have instantly become one of my top 5 favorite places on Earth. This long curvy staircase through the green cliffs is the way down to the sand. 

Once down there, I felt like we'd stumbled on some sort of magical fairy land. It was just epic and sprawling above us and every natural feature I love: cliffs, blue ocean, green hills, mountains. Even a waterfall. 

The cliffs at the end of the half-moon formation were like something out of a movie. 

Very happy travelers right now. 

Enjoying this beautiful countryside. 

Our next stop was a long winding drive to the end of another peninsula towards the Slieve League cliffs. The tips of these cliffs in the distance are actually the left side of the Silver Strand Beach we had just discovered. We could tell by the lighthouse in the distance. 

The hike along the edge of the cliffs. Beautiful.

A tiny cove with a beach. Doubtful many people relax down there. 

We hiked up and up to get a better vantage point of the cliffs and the surrounding countryside. 

The president of the County Donegal historical society said we should skip this because its way too touristy. I am questioning whether this man should be president of anything. 

Once we hit the top of the cliff, we had a clear view of the coastline around us. Wow. 

We sat and stared out at this view of the valley for quite awhile. We were both in complete awe. 

As the sun was setting in the next hour, we had time for one more stop. So we headed to the Saint John Lighthouse. It sits at the end of a really skinny little peninsula that isn't far, but takes a while to drive through.

In the distance, we could see the cliffs of Sligo, with the ocean spray misting up below them. 

We parked the car and made our way out into an extremely muddy field to get to the shoreline. 

But it was definitely worth the ankle deep mud for this. 

A quick and squelchy jaunt to the other side of the peninsula. 

More epic views, back on Donegal. 

And with that, we jumped back in the car for the final bit of drive into Donegal town. As we left, we caught the start of a beautiful sunset. 

And as we arrived to town, we caught one more glimpse of it, closing out our last night in Ireland. Wild Donegal may have become my favorite place in all of Ireland. It was amazing landscape unlike anything I've ever seen. And we saw it in the dead of winter! What happens when spring comes? I can't even fathom, but I'd like to find out.