Stage 28: Bunbeg to Dungloe (via Kincaslough & Cruit Island): Sat 30 March 2019 (58k or 36miles)

Running around Ireland - strictly by the coast - and once a month since Feb 2017.

For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but just to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move. Robert Louis Stevenson (see blog later re RLS)

Dawn is already breaking as I leave Bangor at 6.00am. A couple of hours later I drive through Letterkenny and enter rural Donegal. It’s a dull morning but so uplifting to see those beautiful hills again. I cross over the mountain road - these hills/mountains are called the Seven Sisters and are dominated, of course, by big sister Errigal.

When I finally arrive in Gweedore I leave my car at the big Healthwise Chemist in Bunbeg and take to the road once again.

I run along the quiet country road in the direction of Dungloe (or ‘An Clochan Liath’ in Irish) and then take a right turn towards Annagry and Donegal Airport. I pass through the busy village of Annagry and smile to myself when I saw the Irish version Anagaire (‘gaire’ is Irish for laughing – ironically, the complete opposite to angry!)

I continue running north up the peninsula following the airport symbol. Amazing to see an airport in this picturesque location. There’s a small Gaelic pitch just outside the terminal building and there’s a Saturday morning under 10 training session going on!

Donegal Airport: No surprise that the airport has just been voted the world's most scenic airport for the second year running in a survey by PrivateFly. I should mention too that Donegal was voted the coolest place in the world to visit in 2017 by National Geographic Traveller. Also, the weather is slowly improving so I think I’m in a good place this morning!

I pass the airport and run to the top of the Carrickfin peninsula and I clearly see the islands of Inishinny (island of the fox) and Gola (pronounced Gowla- read about it below). PS: As regards Inishinny, about a year after this I tried to reach that island at low tide but there was a strong channel of water in the way which didn't look passable at all. 

Inishinny Island and Gola behind.

Gabhla/Gola Island, Spanish Armada and Robert Louise Stevenson:

I think most people who learned Irish would be very familiar with the song

‘Baidin Fheidhimi (d’imigh go Gabhla). It’s about a fatal drowning of a man called Felim and the song was written by Felim’s brother. I also read that the famous writer Robert Louise Stevenson stayed in Bunbeg, was captivated by Gola, the tales of the Spanish Armada and the wreck, La Juliana, which crashed on the island of Gola. Apparently RLS was so inspired by these stories that he wrote Treasure Island. His book could have been called Gold Island or Gola Island!

I cross over to the north-west side of the Carrickfin peninsula, making sure to keep the sea on my right! However, there’s no road or even track on this side. Eventually I come over a headland to see a beautiful long beach ahead – its Carrickfin strand. 

Really glad to see Carrickfin beach!

Carrickfin beach - you could land a plane here too!

Amazing to have such a lovely (blue flag) beach just beside the airport!

 I can clearly see Inisfree Island Lower across the sea.

Inisfree Island Lower

Later in the day I’ll pass Inisfree Upper, near Burtonport. (I should point out that neither of these islands is the Inishfree immortalised by WB Yeats or by John Ford! Yeat’s ‘Lake Island of Inishfree’ is in Sligo and the Quiet Man’s Inishfree is supposed to represent the island of Ireland.)    

After leaving Carrickfin beach I continue along rough grassy headlands. It’s sometimes muddy now and I struggle as I climb over a few barbed wire fences. After a while I come to a monument near Ballymanus to commemorate 19 young men who lost their lives when a sea mine exploded in 1943. Also at nearby Mullaghderg beach down on the shore there's a plaque to commemorate four young female students who were drown in 1972.

Ballymanus monument with Errigal behind

These 4 young girls were drown here at Mullaghderg beach

 I slowly make my way up a sandy path which leads me eventually to the village of Kincaslough.

At Kincaslough

I’m so glad to have a break (and a drink) here at the Post Office/Shop. Kincaslough, of course, is well known because it’s the home of the country singer, Daniel O’Donnell. Back in the 1980s my wife, Maureen was in college in Galway with the famous singer. Maureen said that Daniel told her fellow students that he was dropping out of college because he wanted ‘to make it big in country music’. And in fairness to him, he did!

Kincaslough PO

Cruit Island: About a mile after Kincaslough, I take a right turn that brings me onto Cruit Island. 

Bridge to Cruit Island

This time I decide to stick to the country road and I follow the windy, hilly road all the way to the Golf Course at the top of the island. I pause briefly at the most northerly spot, looking across at Owey Island. (Owey means ‘caves’ and apparently there are underground caves and taverns on that island). 

Owey Island in the distance

I retrace my steps and run back down Cruit Island. I pass a memorials dedicated to Darren Mills and I heard that there is a 5k Memorial Run/Walk on the island every year, which is a nice way to remember him.

In memory of Darren Mills

The view from Memorial - Errigal.

I’m definitely tiring now and I’m beginning to wonder if I was too ambitious trying to reach Dungloe (An Clochan Liath) today. Just before I get to Keadue Strand I see a sign saying only 7k to Burtonport (Ailt an Chorrain) and I’m very tempted to continue on the main road.

 However, I had to remind myself that this is a Coastal Run and so after I pass Keadue and the Soccer pitch (Packy Bonner’s old club!) and after the main road winds around to the left, I decide to take the second right down towards the sea. I knew there was a nice beach in this direction and after roughing it along the coast for a while; I eventually came to a coastal path. 

Somewhere in Cruit Island

I like when the farmers make it easier to climb over

Cloch Ghlas - with Errigal again!

Soon I arrive at another one of Donegal’s hidden gems - another goldenl beach, called Cloch Ghlas. There’s even a blue sky now and Errigal is still clearly visible – the ‘wee’ peak has been my constant companion today!  

Signs to Dungloe (An Clochan Liath) and Burtonport (Ailt an Chorrain)

I run along the beach to the end and follow a sandy path that eventually leads to a trail and then a narrow road. Yes, I’m glad I took the coastal route to Burtonport – even though I’m struggling now to keep my body moving!

I decide to have a break in Burtonport. I’ve already completed 32 miles today and I’m getting hungry and thirsty (I’ve finished my yorkie bar back on Cruit Island and I haven’t had a drink since Kincaslough)  

At Burtonport (Ailt an Chorrain) the ferry from Aranmore is just arriving. I can even see the cottages on Rutland Island across the bay. In fact this area played a very significant part in the 1798 Revolution. Back then Rutland Island with its thriving herring industry was the main commercial centre of the whole North West.

Ferry from Aranmore with Rutland Island in the background

Rutland Island and Napper Tandy : In 1798 Napper Tandy took possession of the Post Office in Rutland island, hoisted an Irish Flag and issued a proclamation (maybe the 1916 leaders were following in his footsteps taking over the GPO!) Tandy was later tried for treason and sentenced to death but unlike Wolf Tone his life was spared. Napper Tandy was inspired by the French Revolution in 1789 and even had a connection and friendship with Napoleon. Apparently, Napoleon intervened on his behalf and is even said to have made Tandy's release a condition of signing the Treaty of Amiens, an agreement signed by Britain, France, Spain and the Netherlands.

I call into the only pub in Burtonport and have a nice glass of Cidona (cider without the alcohol!) before continuing. It’s tough-going over the last few miles but I’m quietly satisfied to eventually arrive in An Clochan Liath/Dungloe (capital of The Rosses).

At last - the end of Stage 28!

It’s been a tough one today and I’m hungry. I call into the first restaurant I see (Doherty’s) and order a Sheppard’s Pie and catch a taxi back to Bunbeg (capital of Gweedore). It seems a long long time since I was there this morning!

 Stages 28 A bit I missed - OILEAN NA MARBH (the island of the dead), Carrickfin Peninsula

Saturday 5 December 2020

I returned to Carrickfin and I went back with Maureen and Brian on a cold and showery December afternoon. 

Maureen and Brian on Tra a Bhaid, Carrickfin Peninsula

Although I had passed very close to this island back in March 2019 (when I did my original run) I didn’t realise the significance of this place and in any case you needed a low tide to access this small island. The name of the island in itself indicates a sad tale and after I read about the history behind the name of the island, the story became even more heart breaking. This wee island was used as a type of graveyard for still born babies or those babies that died before they could be baptised. It is estimated that about 500 babies were buried here on the island even up to the beginning of the 20^th century. It was then a cruel society, led by the strict rules of the Catholic Church, maintaining that the unbaptised could not be buried in consecrated grounds.

View of Oilean na Marbh from Tra a Bhaid Pier

With Maureen and Brian on this winter’s day, we drove passed Donegal airport and took a left turn signposted to Tra a Bhaid (the Boat Strand). We parked on the cliff just before the pier and across the water we could already see the Cross on the island. At low tide it was easy enough to walk across the strand but then there were some wet rocks to get through to reach the island. It was a steep and slippy climb up onto the island itself and I couldn’t help thinking that this was not a nice journey for any parent to have to take.

Cross and Plaque on Oilean na Marbh

These separate burial grounds were common all over Ireland, usually in allocated spaces just outside graveyards or churches and became known as cillineachs. I remember once hearing about my own father’s siblings. He was born in 1921, the youngest of fourteen children but five of his older brothers died either stillborn or just as babies. I have a vague recollection that they were buried in a separate area and perhaps also denied a proper burial. I’m old enough too to remember learning about the unbaptised and that horrible place called Limbo where ‘those souls who, though not condemned to punishment, are deprived of the joy of heaven’’. This was really the Catholic teaching that encouraged this kind of warped morality. 

Maureen and Brian leaving the island

However I’m now glad to report that now, in the modern era, the dead on Oilean na Marbh will never be forgotten. A local man, Seamus Boyle started a campaign this century and now there is a plaque and a memorial cross to honour (and always remember) those special souls. 

If you’d like to Donate to Clifton Special School, please see below.

https://mydonate.bt.com/events/cliftoncoastalrun/381290

Contact Gerry on gerryoboyle@outlook.com or 00 44 (0) 7725613308