Northern Ireland Outdoors Forum - Hiking, camping and more
General => Meets, places, trips and reviews => Topic started by: phil_b on October 13, 2015
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Warning - no camping involved and photo heavy!
I had been planning a day in donegal all year but with work, a new baby in May and a few other things conspiring against me, i never got a chance. I had a list of places i wanted to visit, mostly for photography reasons, and early september would have suited better but it ended up being the 1st October before i got away. A 4.30am start in thick fog but it was forecast to be clear in Donegal, the driving was a bit hairy at times but i arriver at Fanad Lighthouse on the tip of the Fanad peninsula at 6.20am to clear skies and a bit of colour starting to appear on the horizon. I stayed here until around 8.30 watching the sun rise through the sea fog.
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/728/21732505740_25a93c0327_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/z7qLNQ)Fanad Lighthouse (https://flic.kr/p/z7qLNQ) by Philip Blair (https://www.flickr.com/photos/philblair/), on Flickr
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/603/22028943322_540be9cb62_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/zyC6nC)Fanad Helipad (https://flic.kr/p/zyC6nC) by Philip Blair (https://www.flickr.com/photos/philblair/), on Flickr
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/709/21813142398_21510fe8be_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/zey4h3)Fanad Lighthouse at Sunrise (https://flic.kr/p/zey4h3) by Philip Blair (https://www.flickr.com/photos/philblair/), on Flickr
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/593/22051335211_d0eea5899d_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/zAARGF)Fanad Portrait (https://flic.kr/p/zAARGF) by Philip Blair (https://www.flickr.com/photos/philblair/), on Flickr
(https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5785/21951781601_f4d658b885_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/zrNBT8)Fanad Lighthouse (https://flic.kr/p/zrNBT8) by Philip Blair (https://www.flickr.com/photos/philblair/), on Flickr
From here it was a 10 min drive and a 10 min walk down to Pollet sea Arch. The sky was blue, the sea was calm and it was a perfect place for a cup of coffee and a sandwich and a few photos.
(https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5791/22116304725_1ed7eb172a_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/zGkQSH)Pollet Sea Arch-1 (https://flic.kr/p/zGkQSH) by Philip Blair (https://www.flickr.com/photos/philblair/), on Flickr
(https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5677/21929348179_c4bc76ae02_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/zpPDcZ)Pollet Sea Arch-2 (https://flic.kr/p/zpPDcZ) by Philip Blair (https://www.flickr.com/photos/philblair/), on Flickr
(https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5785/22116209845_a20e03405f_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/zGkmER)Pollet Sea Arch-3 (https://flic.kr/p/zGkmER) by Philip Blair (https://www.flickr.com/photos/philblair/), on Flickr
Next stop Dunlewy about 11am in the shadow of Mount Errigal where there was just a little too much ripple on the lake so a 20 second exposure helped smooth it out to get the reflections
(https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5728/21908777628_6fece23280_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/zo1dij)Mount Errigal Reflection (https://flic.kr/p/zo1dij) by Philip Blair (https://www.flickr.com/photos/philblair/), on Flickr
(https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5670/21475857903_bd4a90481d_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/yHKom8)Errigal Reflections 2-1 (https://flic.kr/p/yHKom8) by Philip Blair (https://www.flickr.com/photos/philblair/), on Flickr
Then Mount Errigal itself. I had never climbed it before so it was one i wanted to knock off the list. The sky was blue and when i got to the summit there wasnt an air of a breeze so i was able to sit in a t-shirt on the 1st of October eating my lunch. Class! I did think of Dowser trying to camp up here, there wasnt a flat bit of ground free of stones anywhere.
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/780/21908866658_5a3d2b035a_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/zo1ELj)Mount Errigal -3 (https://flic.kr/p/zo1ELj) by Philip Blair (https://www.flickr.com/photos/philblair/), on Flickr
(https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5730/21474011244_6b315ce21a_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/yHzVpb)Mount Errigal -2 (https://flic.kr/p/yHzVpb) by Philip Blair (https://www.flickr.com/photos/philblair/), on Flickr
(https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5720/22084419922_9143684ed0_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/zDwqCJ)Mount Errigal -1 (https://flic.kr/p/zDwqCJ) by Philip Blair (https://www.flickr.com/photos/philblair/), on Flickr
I was back to the car again about 2.30 and went down past the old church in Dunlewy and walked a bit into the Poisoned Glen but was running out of energy a little so just sat for a while and enjoyed the peace
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/659/21475448843_c0ca4d057b_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/yHHhKn)Poisoned Glen (https://flic.kr/p/yHHhKn) by Philip Blair (https://www.flickr.com/photos/philblair/), on Flickr
I then had a 45 min drive to my final stop which i had picked for sunset. This is a place called Crohy Head near Maghery just south of Dungloe. It is only a short walk across a field and down a steep slope to a really rocky beach and the Crohy Sea Arch. I knew high tide was at 9pm and sunset was 7pm but i discovered around 6pm that the incoming tide was about to cut off the route off the beach so had to make a run for it and watch the actual sunset from the cliff tops.
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/752/21870875138_3e63e162d1_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/zjDXd7)Crohy Sea Arch-4 (https://flic.kr/p/zjDXd7) by Philip Blair (https://www.flickr.com/photos/philblair/), on Flickr
(https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5814/22046392222_5212a99cda_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/zAawjJ)Crohy Sea Arch-3 (https://flic.kr/p/zAawjJ) by Philip Blair (https://www.flickr.com/photos/philblair/), on Flickr
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/662/22046459252_57fa5df730_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/zAaSfq)Crohy Sea Arch (https://flic.kr/p/zAaSfq) by Philip Blair (https://www.flickr.com/photos/philblair/), on Flickr
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/722/21437791793_c1382a1d5b_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/yEohBT)Crohy Sea Arch 8 (https://flic.kr/p/yEohBT) by Philip Blair (https://www.flickr.com/photos/philblair/), on Flickr
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/774/21437845413_4f0f10367f_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/yEoyyn)Crohy Sea Arch 7 (https://flic.kr/p/yEoyyn) by Philip Blair (https://www.flickr.com/photos/philblair/), on Flickr
(https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5748/21871189248_5de9670f19_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/zjFyzN)Crohy Sea Arch 2 (https://flic.kr/p/zjFyzN) by Philip Blair (https://www.flickr.com/photos/philblair/), on Flickr
Back to the car for 8pm, stopped for chips on the way home and was back in the house for 10.30pm. Awesome day out and cant wait until the next one!
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Awesome pics Phil, just think what you could do if you camped out ;D Pollet sea arch 2 and cohey sea arch 8 are my favourites.
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Karma well earned mate!! Fantastic photos 8)
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Make your posts as pic heavy as you can, amazing photos as per usual, must have been a great day out. Never been to Donegal myself the views look spectacular. Karma again.
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Thanks guys. Unfortunately I can't get enough time to do this more often.
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Stunning
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Great photos, your shot of fanad lighthouse is stunning.
I was in the bluestacks last week for a days hiking and loved it, the views are amazing
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Incredible photos. It makes me wonder what you keep as your desktop background if you are churning out pictures like these!
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Thanks again guys. I keep meaning to get one or two of my photos printed for the wall but never get round to it, they are all just stuck on hard drives.