A few weeks ago I went to Murvagh Beach just outside Donegal Town. The plan was to have a good walk, go beyond our normal turning point and explore an area called Bell’s Isle. I was hoping to find a decent location for a beach wild camp for the Spring/Summer.
I had identified a woodland area from the map and satellite imagery and was hoping to get a space on the edge of the woodland, big enough for a tent and with a decent view of the sea. I was blown away by what I did find and can’t wait to go back with my tent and spend an overnight there.
Check out the video below to see what I found 👇
The original plan for today was to go for a hillwalk but waking up this morning with congested sinuses for the second day in a row I decided to call it off. I think the recent high temps and hayfever are to blame and with temps forecasted in the high 20s today I didn’t think it would be enjoyable.
During the week we bought a new (to us) car so we figured today would be a good day to head out for a longer drive to get a really good feel for it and to visit a place we’ve heard a lot about but have never visited.
Murder Hole Beach is officially called Boyeeghter Bay or Boyeeghter Strand but known locally by the gruesome name. Two theories why include the death of a girl in the 1800s that fell to her death from the cliffs and the dangerous currents that make the bay unsuitable for swimming. It is known as the most beautiful beach in Donegal and possibly Ireland.
Accessing the beach used to require crossing private land and playing chicken with a bull but another landowner has now put in a gravel path and a car park. €5 gets you access to both for the day and it’s more than worth it.
Although the path is better it’s still a pretty strenuous climb going most of the way up and over Meelmore Hill before crossing farmland to the beach. Today as we climbed the hill we could hear the roar of a large helicopter and it turned out someone had got into difficulty either in the waves or on the rocks and had to be airlifted off by the coastguard.
Thankfully he walked out of the helicopter with only his dignity hurt.
Over the last little rise and we were treated to the most perfect of beach views.
I could see why it’s not suitable for swimming. The beach shelves off very quickly and although there was barely a breath of wind today there were quite large breakers and a series of much bigger waves every so often. An unwary swimmer could very easily get into trouble here!
These bay is also a geologist’s wet dream with visible rock strata and a cave. Unfortunately we couldn’t get in today due to the tide but that’s just another reason to come back.
On the way back we passed the ruin of an old house/farm building with a large bramble bush in blossom.
Also on the way back I realised that the path passed just below the summit of Meelmore Hill and I couldn’t resist the short scramble up to the top. It’s only approx 70m above sea level but the views were amazing.
For some reason the arcane system of classifying hills (something to do with prominence that I really don’t need to understand) means that this summit isn’t listed for logging on Mountainviews.ie but I’m still glad I went up to the top.
A quick stop on the way home for a 99 made the afternoon pretty much perfect 👌
Last year I started the New Year on the top of Errigal with a hike to welcome the dawn on the summit. I had hoped to repeat that this year but my back has been playing up all week making it unlikely. Then to top it off there was a weather warning for high winds on Atlantic coasts and high ground. The predicted wind speed on the summit at dawn was 80-100km/hr so there was no way I was chancing that, especially in the dark.
After a lazy lie in we marked the New Year all together instead with a walk on Rathmullan Beach which is a regular spot for us and Catriona’s favourite. We ended up sitting in the car for almost half an hour as the rain hammered down before deciding to get some chips from the nearby van. Instead of going home afterwards as expected we were delighted to see the weather clear and the sun actually come out. We ended up with beautiful weather for a beach walk – a strong, bracing wind but no rain!
Afterwards we paid a brief visit to my Grand Aunt Ruby who had her 106th birthday yesterday! She had a busy day with some visitors and lots of phonecalls and was pretty tired from it all so we didn’t stay very long. She’s some lady.
Finally before heading home we called via Mum and Dad’s for a visit and to wish them a Happy New Year in person. This rounded off a very enjoyable, relaxing and family orientated start to 2022.
One of Donegal’s most famous landmarks and probably the most photographed, lies on Magheraclogher Beach outside Bunbeg. It’s the remains of a boat (Bád Eddie is Irish for Eddie’s boat) that ran aground in the 1970s and has sat there for almost 50 years. We’ve never been there and as it’s in serious danger of collapsing completely, we made the journey today to see it for ourselves and get some photos of our own before it disappears for good.
It’s Catriona’s birthday this week and as we’re all at work and school she wanted to celebrate today with a family day away, especially as we appear to have temporarily skipped straight from Spring to Summer.
On the way down we stopped at my brother’s coffee van (#curiouscoffee). I’ve stopped a couple of times already on my way to work but as they are only open 9 weeks now it was a first visit for Catriona and the boys.
Coincidentally Mum and my sister plus kids had a similar idea and we met them there and sat having a chat for a good while.
The main aim of the day was to go for a family walk. We had chosen Glenevin Waterfall outside Clonmany but the car park and trail were closed. According to Google it’s “temporarily closed” so it must be a victim of the lockdown restrictions.
Our next choice was always going to be a beach walk anyway so we headed for Pollan Strand less than 10 minutes away and walked pretty much the full length of the beach. It was 6km in glorious warm sunshine, as close to Summer as it gets in this part of the world.
On the way back we stopped at the Four Lanterns in Buncrana for burgers and chips topped off by 99s in Raphoe. An extravagant day of spoiling ourselves but a lovely family day out.
If St Patrick’s Day was strange then Mother’s Day wasn’t going to be much different. We wanted to do as much as possible today while being sensible so we went to visit Mum and with a great idea from Catriona we wrote Happy Mother’s Day on A4 sheets and greeted her from outside her garden wall having already left her present outside the front door. It was a bit weird but we got to say what we wanted and she and Dad both stayed safe.
Catriona’s wish was a walk on the beach. We went to Rathmullan as it’s a big wide beach with plenty of space for keeping away from others and allowed us to visit Catriona’s Mum’s grave on the way.
When we arrived in Rathmullan the car park was as busy as I’ve seen it with about 40 cars parked up already. Having seen pictures of crowds in the Wicklow Mountains yesterday we were on the verge of turning away but as there was nobody actually in the car park we decided to have a look down the beach.
It was heartening to see how everyone was behaving. There were a lot of people out walking, lots of couples and lots of small family groups. Everyone was very responsible with everyone well spread out up and down the beach with lots of space. We saw a couple of groups of people meeting who knew each other but just waving. One pair of younger couples were kind of messing but one of the guys was pretty clear about the need to stay apart and made sure the other guy didn’t come too close while still being able to have a conversation.
It was really uplifting to see everyone enjoying the day, the first of the proper Spring weather and to be able to put aside the worries and concerns for just a little while but still being sensible enough to stay safe.
Catriona’s favourite thing is to walk on the beach and it was great we were able to give her that today.
Judging by the forecast today could be the last day of Summer, or at least for a week or so. Combined with my day off we decided to head for a walk on the beach in the spirit of carpe diem.
picnic lunch in Donegal Town on the way
just the two of us as the boys were camera shy today
Some of the photos look very dark but it was bright and sunny for the second half at least.The Marram Grass in the dunes looked really, really green. I don’t think I’ve seen it in full flush before and it was impressive.
the idle cyclist 