The weather forecast predicted perfect warm sunny weather for the long weekend but in Donegal the sun never quite got through the clouds. On Friday Maureen, Brian and I arrived at Derrylahan hostel in Kilcar at about 6.00pm. It was a nice evening so we headed straight for the cliffs of Slieve League which dominate the whole landscape of South Donegal.
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| Brian and Maureen at Slieve League cliffs |
Stage 37: Saturday 24 August: St. John’s Point to Donegal Town – 44km (27.5 or miles)
I decided to do Stage 37 on the Saturday before Stage 36 on the Sunday. So we drove to Dunkineely and made the 11k journey along the never-ending peninsula to St. John’s Point. The peninsula has a real island feeling about it and is quite flat until you get to the last few miles.
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| At St. John's Point Lighthouse |
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| Cyndi Graham's Studio - still on long peninsula! |
I’m rarin’ to go and I run the first 10k along the peninsula at a good pace. Strava tells me I’m the second fastest runner from the Lighthouse to Castle Murray at a time of 44.18. In hindsight I’m going too fast!
I run through the village of Dunkineely and after a mile I take a right turn along a rough track. The ordnance survey map marks this as a ‘dismantled railway’ and it does feel like that. After about 2k I was surprised that the track brought me back out onto main road (I think I could have stayed on the coast) but at least I was then able to stop at Inver Post Office for a drink. Shortly after passing the PO, I took a right turn (really into Inver village).
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| The Inver fish sign that I came back to. |
I passed
the Inver Fish sign and came onto a beach at Inver Bar. The river (Eany) was
much too wide to cross so I followed it around hoping I would find a shallow
part or bridge. However there was no way across and I ended up having to run
through a wet field and back where I started at the Inver Fish sign! Still
Inver (meaning estuary) was such a quaint little place that I was glad I got to
see.
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| River Eany at entrance to sea |
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| River Eany in Inver |
And
so I had to go back on the main road and cross the only bridge on the Eany
River. After crossing the river I took an immediate right and then another
right which brought me down to a beach (the other side of Inver Bar!) I
contemplated whether I could rough it along the shore and luckily I met a man
there who assured me I could. So I ran along a rocky beach for about a mile,
came back up onto country road for a while and then roughed it along the shore
again.
As I was getting close to the bottom of the peninsula I realised it was
best to run up along the headland, even if I had to dip under one or two electric
fences! In the distance I could see two farmers and as I got closer I stopped
and told them what I was doing.
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| Skull of sheep ( I think) found near Raneely Port |
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| The Scott brothers with Eagles Nest Rock behind |
They were very friendly (the Scott brothers) and it was only when I left their field and climbed over their gate that I noticed the ‘beware of the bull’ sign!
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| Sign I saw, AFTER I Ran through the field |
I
was now on the country road again heading NE towards Mountcharles. I took the
second turn right to try to stay by the coast and as I came over a hill a dog
came barking towards me. The only human who appeared was a young girl about 3
years old.
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| Blowey the dog wont let me pass! |
I waited for about ten minutes for an adult to appear but none did so
I had to backtrack up the hill again and continue along the main country road.
At the second crossroads about 1k before Mountcharles I took a right turn
and arrived down on the coast. This area is called Salthill and Mountcharles
was originally called ‘Tamhnach an
Tsalainn’, the ‘green fields of salt’. It was strange seeing another Salthill
as I grew up near the Galway Salthill!
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| At Salthill Cabin south of Mount Charles |
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| Goat in Salthill |
Even
though I was tiring, it was now a nice run along the coast until I eventually
came onto the N56. At least the busy road into Donegal town was straight. When
I got into town there was plenty of activity with a food festival on. Feeling
exhausted I headed for the Abbey Hotel where Maureen and Brian were meeting me.
It was my longest coastal run for a while and I felt it!
Stage 36: Sunday 25 August 2019: Killybegs to
St. John's Point 35km (or 22 miles)
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| I'm learning so much about the Spanish Armada on this run - 1300 young men lost their lives on La Girona alone. |
We
park the car near Killybegs Enterprise Centre and walk back to the roundabout
and take the first left to Glenlee.
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| At Portnacross Pier SW of Killybegs |
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| Brian delighted to see this old car near Roshin |
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| With Fintragh Bay behind |
Meanwhile Maureen and Brian take a left
and walk back to Killybegs. I catch up with them later there and then continue
running along Killybegs harbour. It’s a very long harbour – the largest fishing
port in Ireland – and when I get to the end I leave the R263 and take a right
(and right again) sticking by the coast on the other side of the bay.
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| Killybegs town from the other side |
I
eventually come to a T junction, take a right turn and keep running for about a
mile until the road comes to an end.
Outside a house there is a family (or
families) enjoying the sunshine and I stop to ask whether I can get down to the
bottom of the peninsula.
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| McHugh family at Carntullagh |
I get talking to Eddie McHugh whose uncle owns the
land in this area. Eddie decides to run with me the short distance to the
bottom of the peninsula and soon we’re joined by his children/nieces. Here, there
was such a lovely view across to Carntullagh Head with the Lighthouse on Rotten
Island clearly visible.
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| With McHugh children at Carntullagh Head |
William Steig, the children’s author wrote that Rotten
Island is a ‘horrible place filled with horrible monsters that slither, creep
and crawl’. I don’t think he realised there was a real place called Rotten
Island in this beautiful part of Donegal!
I
continue up along the other side of the peninsula, taking a right turn at the top and
I was able to stay on country road all the way. Eventually I could see the main
road but I was still able to keep running on the parallel country road, which
led me along a rough trail by Bruckless House and crossing over a nice grassy
track.
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| Grassy path - at Bruckless harbour |
I ended up running through someone’s garden before coming back onto the
main road (N56) which I only had to stay on for 1km until I saw the sign
pointing right to St. John’s Point. So now I had only 11km to run along the narrow
peninsula to the Lighthouse.
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| Castle on St. John's peninsula |
It was a long 7 miles and I was glad to have a wee
break near the end at Killultan beach (just about a mile from the Lighthouse). Maureen
and Brian were there to greet me, it was now a nice afternoon and some people
were swimming in the very clear water.
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| Great to see Killultan beach as I turned around the corner! |
As I was chatting to Maureen a young
female runner came by and when I asked her if she was running to the Lighthouse
she (Niamh McKenna) said she was.
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| With Niamh at finish point, St. John's Lighthouse |
So Niamh joined me on the last mile of
this month’s coastal run. And so after all these months I'm finally getting through the coast of Donegal and slowly getting closer to the Connacht border. The adventure
continues again in September!
PS : Thanks to Shaun, the owner of Derrylahan Hostel for very generous £stg20.00 for Clifton School.
Total distance to
date: 1,490 (931miles)
Next Stages: Donegal
to Bundoran (via Rossnowlagh Beach) Friday/Saturday of 13-14 Sept 2019. Final
‘Province of Ulster’ stages!