An Adventure in County Donegal

During our time in Galway, JP (French adventurer extraordinaire) coordinates an overnight adventure for us. This year, we were off to Donegal. Here are some of the highlights from July 1-2.

Knocknarea or “Queen Maeve’s Grave”

The hiking trail up to the top of the cairn is about a mile or so and is among one of the steeper hikes I’ve undertaken. All the guides say it takes about an hour to ascend to the top of the 1,073 feet hill, but the front of the pack was booking it. Let’s just say we made good time.

The ascending view was amazing, but, of course, no iPhone camera was going to capture the beauty of it all. You’ll just have to take my word for it. If I lived nearby, I could easily see myself spending half a day or so there just to take in the sights, maybe even take a book with me and just enjoy the view.

At one point, the cairn earned the name of “Queen Maeve’s Grave”, but the site is so much older than Queen Maeve. The burial grounds have never been excavated, but archaeologists believe that the cairn may date back to as far as 3,000 BCE. There are also a number of small burial monuments surrounding the burial cairn, but we didn’t spend too much time at the very top. Traditionally, hikers pick up a stone from the bottom of the trail, carry it to the top, and then add it to the massive monument. I contributed my own little piece, but it certainly sparks the imagination. How many people contributed to its initial construction? What was its local significance? Where did they find all the rocks???

Donegal

We stayed the night in the city of Donegal at a local hostel (my first time in a hostel too). Unfortunately, we arrived a little later in the evening, and for some unknown reason, most of Ireland seems to shut down after 6:00 save the pubs. We ate at a local restaurant called The Harbour which was a nice way to end the day after all the hiking and walking.

Some folks went to check out the music scene after dinner, but I wanted to head back to the hostel. At least I had good company. A few of us wanted to check out Donegal Castle which was sadly closed by this time. Some climbing may have been involved to get some pics like the one above, but just like Queen Maeve’s grave, you’ll just have to use your imagination. Night at the hostel actually turned into a fun little game night- not a bad way to go.

Sliab Liag

Have you heard of Sliab Liag before? I certainly hadn’t. JP had put it on our agenda but hadn’t said anything before that. We even scooped up a local historian and guide during our stay in Donegal who would take us around the county and show us the sights. She seemed like a nice enough woman, but we were all so tired, we were dozing on and off on the bus. Oops. But honestly, she was so nice.

She told us about the local county and how there are a few Irish speaking communities up there. (Ireland largely speaks English, and only a small percentage of the population speaks Irish in the everyday). Also, Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker casually have a house up in the remote areas of County Donegal and spend their summers there? I guess that’s a thing. There’s also a new push to share the Wild Atlantic Way in Ireland, a movement similar to Pure Michigan. Our guide hopes that County Donegal will see a rise in tourism over the next 10 years.

Imagine our surprise when we’re taken up a steep hillside and dropped off at a common area. There aren’t many people around, but our guide says we should climb up a bit further to see what all the fuss was about.

The cliffs of Sliab Liag are 2 times taller than the Cliffs of Moher and haven’t yet been overwhelmed by the touristy feel like the Cliffs of Moher. The air was amazing. The view was breathtaking. The breeze was blowing through my bangs haphazardly (Yes, Cara, I have since invested in bobby pins.) But if you’re planning to come to Ireland, yes, do the touristy sites but make the effort to come out to places on the western part of the island. It’s far better than just Dublin in my opinion.

As always, I wanted more time, but we had to head back to Galway. We are trying to earn our Masters degrees after all.