Our 20 days in Ireland, walking the Bluestack Way and Slí Cholmcille and volunteering for a HelpX on Clare Island, is coming to an end. And while our second day on the Slí Cholmcille might be my least favorite of the entire trip, our last 2 days in Ireland make up for it with a beautiful hike to the Slieve League Cliffs and an evening with friends in Dublin.
Day 2 Walking the Slí Cholmcille
Looks like another day of full sun as we head uphill out of town, offering us expansive views of the village from a different viewpoint. We stop at Byrne’s, the only food store within walking distance of our B&B. In the summer they offer pre-packaged sandwiches but we’re here in off-season so options are limited to mostly snack foods. Thankfully we’ve packed emergency beef jerky and protein bars, so we won’t starve.
We quickly see signs of active peat harvesting. We’ve been smelling the peat fires throughout town as many locals prefer to use it for heat and sentimental reasons, but now we get to see how they harvest and dry it. People have different methods, but here they are stacking it in little teepee shaped piles. Once dried, these hardened peat bricks are thrown into bags and collected as needed.
We enjoy the soft crunch of gravel and the pillowy softness of dried bog grass beneath our feet while we sweat off our breakfast. Not liking this hot sun, but grateful for an easier walk today (or so I think).
After some road walking, we leave the pavement to follow a forest through a short stretch of boggy terrain. The landscape is so barren here and it’s blazing hot with no relief from the sun. I’m not loving this route today.
But really, I shouldn’t complain, because the blue sky is gorgeous and we’re approaching a lake with mountains all around us.
A bit of open hillwalking through boggy fields that are relatively dry (thanks to the sun I keep complaining about).
But then we begin our climb up Crockunna, one of those Irish hills that feels like a mountain. There’s no clear path and it’s quite boggy, but there are waymarking posts offering a general direction up. We find a wall of raised earth and boulders, following it up as far as we can. I am sooooooo happy to reach the summit!
More open hillwalking but the descent is much easier as we walk towards Carrick. We have lovely views of the River Glen which spills out into the Atlantic Ocean and the barren terrain opens up into bright green pathways lined with yellow gorse.
Arriving into town, we stop at a small market to purchase snacks. We’re too tired and grubby to eat at the Slieve League Lodge, which boasts the only restaurant in town that’s open at the moment. We’ll come back for dinner later.
We’re staying about 1 mile south of Carrick, closer to Teelin and the Slieve League Cliffs. There’s a pretty river walk that takes us directly from town to O’Neill’s B&B, where once again we are greeted by a friendly face and a comfortable room to rest. Our room is spacious with skylights and windows facing the river.
It rains the next day, so we spend it relaxing in our room and walking more along the river walk. On the road to Teelin, just a few feet from our B&B, there’s a coffee truck called Brew In Thru where we get sandwiches and coffee.
Visiting Slieve League Cliffs
At breakfast we chat with Germaine and Mark from Wisconsin and I feel like we’re long-lost friends. We’ll see them again later today, as the skies have cleared and we’re all heading to the Slieve League Cliffs.
Besides being famous for their natural splendor, the Cliffs serve as the start of the International Appalachian Trail (IAT) in Ireland. They are more than 2x higher than the Cliffs of Moher and just shy of being the highest sea cliffs in Ireland — that honor goes to the Croaghaun Cliffs on Achill Island. Our host drops us off at the official Sliabh Liag Visitor’s Centre, where we meet up again with our new friends from Wisconsin. We say a quick hello to Roisin, who works at the center, and hop on a quick shuttle up to the Bunglas Viewpoint.
As expected, there are a lot of people here, but once we hike up towards the top we lose most of them. Only daredevils attempt to walk One Man’s Pass, which traverses the tip of the cliffs and connects with the Pilgrim’s Path to return to the village of Teelin. We walk as far as we can until losing visibility in the fog.
Instead of taking the return shuttle, we walk back down to Teelin. The Wisconsin couple joins us and we swap travel stories all the way down. It’s a clear day so we have gorgeous views of Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Coast looking south. We can also see Carrigan Head and the old signal tower, built by the British in the early 1800s to warn of French invasions.
Back in the village, we part ways with the Wisconsins who are stopping at a cafe. We’re determined to eat at The Rusty Mackerel, even though we don’t have reservations. Our hosts and our notes from Tailor-Made Tours warned us about this, but in our excitement to reach the cliffs we simply forgot. After a long wait and drinks in the pub, we eventually get a table. The atmosphere is worth the wait and the cuisine is good solid Irish comfort food.
We finish our day by walking back to our B&B on Teelin Road. It’s a busy road and there’s little room on the sides to step away from traffic, but the views are lovely and we stop again at the coffee truck.
Return to Dublin
It’s the end of our walking holiday in Donegal so we say goodbye to the O’Neills who have been excellent hosts. They’ve scheduled a taxi for our return to Donegal Town, a splurge since we could have taken the local bus. Our taxi driver is the youngest of 7 children. He lives in Kilcar where his 83yr old dad still runs the family pub (John Joe’s Pub) that he took over from his father. The drive along this coastline is stunning and Eric and I make a mental promise to return with a car someday to drive the entire Donegal and Northern Ireland coast.
Our packs are lighter as we arrive in Donegal Town, and that’s because Eric and I both have left our hiking boots behind. It’s fitting that we purchased our boots for our first hiking trip to Ireland in 2016. After treading paths all over the world, they finally meet their end back in Ireland.
We enjoy a luxurious brunch at the Abbey Hotel while waiting for our bus which will take us to Dublin. Sean and Michelle have graciously offered to share their home with us tonight and their daughter even gives up her bedroom. Yes, we could have stayed in a hotel near the airport, but we have WAY more fun this way!
I’ve worked with Sean for the past year but we’ve never met in person. Can’t think of a better way to end our time in Ireland than with this fun-loving family! Michelle cooks stone oven pizzas and salad while their young son Thomas roasts marshmallows to perfection and quizzes us on Irish words. We stuff our faces with homemade sticky pudding and daughter Ella shares her story of childhood trauma at airport customs when she snuck giant scissors into her luggage.
A friend pops in to drop off duck eggs and wish Michelle a happy 50th birthday. While sitting around the fire, which Thomas is gleefully building, the friend’s pup Luna entertains us with a poop fiasco all over the yard which culminates in a grand finale of a butt scoot all the way down the pavement. I laugh so hard that night that I go to bed with sore cheeks.
The morning before our flight, Sean takes us on a walk through Glasnevin Cemetery and the National Botanic Gardens. Sean and I discuss tourism and brainstorm ideas for enticing Americans to Ireland. It’s the perfect ending to a perfect trip, and it’s certainly not the last time we’ll visit Ireland. We loved our first trip to Dingle, but this time our experiences were so much richer. We spent more time connecting with people and all of our accommodations were owned by friendly innkeepers who welcomed us with open arms — that hospitality is the true beauty of Ireland.
