County Donegal

I was living in Ireland for a few months with an Irish woman in County Clare and planning the weekend ahead. I’d already spent a fair bit of time on past travels in the southwest corner of the Emerald Isle and my temporary roommate asked if I had ever been up to County Donegal. And that’s how I found myself renting a car and making a solo trip to the far northwest corner of the country.

To say that Donegal was surprising and delightful is an understatement. I completely fell in love with its charms – cliffs to rival the best of the best elsewhere in the country. Slieve League both simultaneously gracefully and dramatically makes its way to the sea. After a brisk nature walk, I found myself in a local restaurant with communal tables full of post-Mass conviviality. The warm soup and bread thawed me out and gave me the fuel to find a hidden gem of a hike the innkeeper had told me about when embarking in the morning.

Thinking I might be trespassing on someone’s land, I carefully made my way through dirt tracks and fences to a very small (one parking spot) lot where I parked my car, looked around and started hiking upwards. Surrounded only by grazing sheep and my own thoughts, I made it to the top where a tower stood guard. However, a few steps beyond I found myself looking out over a most impressive site of rushing waters being sucked into a vortex under a dramatic sea arch.

A visit to the local pub with new friends for some reels and a pint capped off the weekend in County Donegal.

And once again, Ireland gave me the soft, green ground to feel firmly rooted.