Had given some serious thought to where to spend Mayday weekend. First choice was doing the Moyle way, but a quick recce the weekend before showed far too much water around the place, so we decided on Donegal. The forecast was probably worse for Donegal than anywhere else (rain forecast for sunday). A last minute decision was made to go for it, we had the car and could come home at any stage if things fell flat on their face!!
So Saturday morning we headed off , probably taking a leisurely 3 hours to get there. We headed up Slieve league for a quick recce, drove up to the top car park and made a quick decision to try from the bottom car park the next day, coming back down by the pilgrims trail route. On the way back down we noticed the wee lookout tower, so stopped there for a quick photo opportunity with the dogs. We headed on round to Silver Strand, stopping to view the impressive scenery and take a few pics. Silver strand did not disappoint, everything everyone has said is true, stunning. so we descended the (very) steep steps to the beach, only to find a group of polish guys had beat us to it!!!! We set up camp at the opposite end of the beach and quickly got the tent up/barbeque lit, and settled in for a very peaceful night. Two people came down later on to do a bit of beach fishing (don’t know how long they stayed, but they were gone in the morning)
Sunday morning brought a slight mizzle, so we lay on in the tent hoping it would clear a bit. about 10, we made the decision to at least try for slieve league (after coming all that way it was a sin not to!!!). Drove up to the top car park to find the place packed with people!!! this was above the cloud level btw!!!! some loonies taking off upwards in sports jackets and polished shoes!! so we couldn’t be outdone…….
we looked a fine sight in our mountain gear among the sunday best brigade, but off we went into the mist with everyone else. had to be seen to be believed really. t shirts, trainers, coatless (not us!!!!), 50metre visibility, strong winds and 600m cliffs 2metres away at times. we tried to follow the path as best we could, given the conditions but the path kept splitting in 2 and we kept guessing which way by the more trampled path. Eventually we were about to give up and head back when a Belfast accent came out of the mist. It turned out to be 3 northerners who had walked it many times previously, and were admitting defeat. so needless to say we joined them, if they were judging it to iffy to go on, so were we . headed back down to the car, meeting many underdressed people heading the other direction. called it a day, packed up the tent and hit the long road home.
That’s two trips south of the border and we’ve been beaten by both so far!!! WE WILL BE BACK TO SLIEVE LEAGUE!!! lol. scenery is fantastic!
