Stage 19 of Coastal Run: Buncrana to Letterkenny
‘What does it mean, Donegal’,
I asked.
‘Dun na nGall , fort of the
foreigners’.
‘But how are we foreigners
when we live here’.
(from ‘The Bread Man’ by
Frank McGuinness)
Saturday 9 June 2018 (51k or 32miles)
The weather has been
exceptionally good over the last few weeks and today was no different even if
the sun didn’t shine.
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Buncrana early morning
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I set off from Donegal’s second largest town, Buncrana (means ‘bottom of the river Crana’) and head south towards Donegal’s first largest town Letterkenny (means ‘hillside of the O’Cannons’). As usual I’ve got the sea on my right hand side and today the sea is Lough Swilly or ‘Lake of the Shadows’, as its sometimes called.
Buncrana
Buncrana is a lovely wee
town with one beach right behind the town and another beach (The White Strand)
which stretches about three miles south almost all the way to Inch Island. The
most famous person from Buncrana is probably the writer Frank McGuinness. He
was still only 32 when he wrote the play ‘Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching
towards the Somme’. Written in the middle of the Troubles in 1985 the play was
praised ‘because its author, a Republican Catholic dared to put himself
imaginatively in the boots of Ulster Unionist soldiers in the First World War’.
McGuinness himself would say that the play is really about ‘the terror and
horror of war’. To my knowledge, Frank McGuinness is the first and only
honorary freeman of Buncrana.
Wolfe Tone, one of the founders of the United Irishmen would not have happy memories of Buncrana. After he was captured off the Donegal coast on board a French Ship in 1798, he was at first unrecognised in French uniform, but later betrayed by an old friend, Sir George Hill.
Anyway I leave Buncrana along
the main Derry/Letterkenny road but I quickly get down onto the ‘White Strand’.
After a mile or two on the beach there are large rocks and the sea has come in
so I have to briefly come up onto Buncrana Golf Links. Not too many golfers
around so I can easily run along the edge of the course. I’m quickly down on
the sandy beach again, even if it’s very soft sand – not great for the feet of
the runner! Eventually I do have to leave the beach and run on the main road
but only for about two miles until I reach the turnoff for
Inch Island.
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| Inch Island |
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| Boardwalk and Path on Inch Island |
Inch Island
This is the third island
I’ve covered on my coastal adventure and the third ‘island’ which technically isn’t
really an island! (The other two islands I circled were Islandmagee in Co.
Antrim and Doagh Island in Inishowen.) It’s hard to even imagine that there was
a railway station here (Inch Road Railway Station at Magherabeg) which operated
from 1864 until 1948. The old ‘Swilly’ train ran along here in remote Donegal for
over 80 years. I have to confess that I didn’t actually circle Inch island. I
got my bearings slightly wrong and ended up just hugging the SE corner of the
island. After arriving onto the island itself there was a lovely board walk to
the left, through the forest which led to a trail, then directly onto Farland
Causeway and back to the mainland on the south side of the island.
It was perfect weather
for running (definitely no rain again today!) At this stage all was well but of
course not all goes to plan on this great coastal adventure!
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| Farland Causeway - leaving Inch Island |
As I crossed the
Causeway, leaving Inch Island, I checked my Ordnance Survey map which told me I
could take a Right turn after I arrived on the mainland and so I did take a
right turn! Admittedly there was a sign on the dirt track leading right that
said ‘private–no vehicles’ but I was just following the map which had a
track/road on it that should have brought me onto a country road by the coast.
I followed the dirt track that then led onto a farmers trail. The trail suddenly
came to an abrupt end with only farmer’s fields ahead so I decided to head back
the way I came. At this stage I noticed some cows in the field getting very excited
at my presence. There were 10 or 12 of them on the other side of the fence and
they started running in the same direction I was running. I slowed down but the
cows didn’t. They kept running in the field and eventually broke through a gate
ahead of me and came out onto the track. I stayed back and was relieved to see
the cows sprinting on ahead along the track. The cows then took a left turn
(still running), presumably back to the farm itself. I waited and then took a
right turn along the dirt track and all the way back to the spot where I had
left Inch Island. It was probably my fastest mile today!
And so I had to come
back onto the main Buncrana-Letterkenny road at Speenoge. It’s a busy road on a
Saturday afternoon but after only about 2k, I was able to leave the main road
(at Black Bridge) again and head right towards the coast. I took the next left
turn and headed in the direction towards Grange Causeway which I knew would
bring me even closer to the coast. I could see from my Ordnance Survey map that
the old Swilly railway line used to cross over Grange Causeway.
I carried on, climbing a
fairly steep hill and at the top I met a farmer (his name was Stanley, I found
out later) and I said ‘is this the way to the Causeway?’ ‘No’, he replied and
said I should go back down the hill again. I ran down the hill took a left turn
and after about a mile asked another man ‘is the Causeway this way?’ ‘’Which
Causeway are you looking for’’, he asked. I took out my map and explained that I had come from Inch Island and that I was now heading for the other causeway (I didn't know it was called Grange Causeway then).
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| Map showing the two causeways |
‘Ah,
Grange Causeway’, he said. He started to give me directions and I then realised
that I had been originally going in the right direction. The farmer, Stanley
had sent me the wrong way! I eventually
got back up the hill (after a sheep traffic jam delayed me even further!) and
who did I meet at the top of the hill but the afore mentioned Stanley the
farmer at the same spot. ‘You sent me on a wild goose chase’ I said. ‘Oh’, he
said, ’I should have asked you which causeway-I thought you wanted to cross
the causeway at Inch Island’. I told him I’d thank him some day, but not today!
In the end we both laughed about it!
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| The sheep blocking my way as I climb this hill again! |
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| With Stanley - I wasn't happy with him earlier! |
Shortly afterwards I arrived at Grange Causeway (I had to take a dirt track through a slightly wooded area so it’s hard enough to find), However, the Causeway was worth waiting for and it was a lovely run across the sea on a perfect grassy surface on such a beautiful day. I can only imagine how amazing it must have been to take the ‘Swilly’ train along here
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| Grange Causeway where 'Swilly' Train crossed until 1953 |
After leaving Grange Causeway I followed the road for about 2k and then took a right turn at the T junction and then third left at Ballybegly. I was now on a nice quiet country coastal road and I followed this road all the way until eventually I came to a T junction that brought me back on the main road just outside Manorcunningham.
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| Getting closer to Letterkenny |
At Manorcunningham I
decided to take a quieter inland route. After a while I crossed over the main
N14 road and then saw a sign for a Cycle Route into Letterkenny. The sign said
Letterkenny 11k. I was getting tired now and thirsty again so I stopped along the
cycle lane and asked a young mother (who was standing outside her house) for a
drink. She gave me a good pint of water and I stopped to chat (her name was Eimear
and her daughter was Tara). Thank you Eimear – I needed that drink and wee break as I was really struggling at this stage
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| With Eimear and wee Tara |
Finally I followed the cycle
lane (really the old road) all the way into Letterkenny, running and walking
(up those steep hills!).
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| Nearly there! |
It was about 2.45pm when I arrived in Letterkenny (still plenty of time before my 4.40 bus back to pick up my car at Buncrana). So, that's the whole Inishowen Peninsula covered. I've arrived at the 'capital' of Donegal (Letterkenny) and now I'm going to head north and tackle the Fanad Peninsula. The adventure continues!
Total distance to date: 837k or 523miles
Next Stages: Saturday 30 June: Letterkenny to Portsalon
and Saturday 25 August Portsalon to
Carrickart
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please see below.
Stage 19 - Inch Island - the bit I missed - 13.6k or 8.5miles! On this coastal adventure I've taken a wrong turn once or twice. If you look at the Strava map, you will see I didn't actually circle Inch Island properly in June 2018.
So on Sunday 20th January 2019, over 7 months later I decided to complete the circle of Inch Island. I was lucky this time to be joined by Johnny McGrath who made sure I covered the whole island, even if the new Strava map doesn't give the impression we did all of the coast!
Johnny and I had just done Stage 26 on the day before (Sat 19 Jan 2019) and on our way back from Falcarragh we stopped off at Inch Island. The rainbow at the start of our run should have warned us the rain would come. There was a short shower early on our run but it brightened up later. Not bad for January!
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| House and boat on Mill Bay beach. |
We drove onto the island by the main road (there is also a causeway which I crossed when I was here originally in June 2018). It's really quite obvious when you arrive on the island by the main road. (I don't know why it confused me when I was here in June!). Once crossing the road onto the island we drove left, following the narrow road around by the coast for about 3k until we came to Mill Bay beach which was our starting point for our circle run around the island.
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| At Mill Bay where we started our run |
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| With Inch Causeway in background |
We decided to run clockwise for a change and took a turn left signposted to Binalt. Lots of hills on Inch island and it was a tough climb on the first few until we reached Binalt, where the country road comes to an end. We climbed over a gate and after a while another gate and another one and another one.....
We were running on a trail which gradually faded away. However Johnny was able to find the path again even though it had become overgrown with bushes. We were joined along here by a few sheep and eventually the rough path brought us back onto the country road just beside Inch Pier.
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| Not what it looks like! Just Johnny trying to find the path ahead! |
We keep following the country road, keeping the sea close by on our left and we can see Grianan Aileach Ring Fort on the hill in the centre of the island. At a crossroads we stop for a while to chat to a fellow runner, Francis Doherty. Ironically it was once the Dohertys who settled on Inch Island and the castle on the south side of the island was built by the Doherty Clann.
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| With Francis - one of the Doherty clann that ruled Inch Island! |
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| At Inch Crossroads in middle of the island |
We take a left at the crossroads and eventually we join up with the main road/entrance to the island. At this stage we're able to run on the wooded causeway, parallel to the main road. We leave the causeway after about 1k and after another couple of miles we finally arrive back at where we started at Mill Bay beach. Stage 19 now completed in full!
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| Thumbs up for a good mornings run! |
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| Back on Mill Bay beach again |
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