3 days driving the coast of Donegal and Derry

It is just a short hop from Heathrow to Belfast – about 50minutes flying time.  It is an incredibly busy route and one that my husband and I have done a number of times for work commitments.  We did try to change our flight back home to an earlier one due to unplanned circumstances, but all flights that day were fully booked, and actually our own flight home was 12 over booked!!!  It is also the less obvious route for a tourist perhaps, but don’t be put off as it is a fantastic location to start a tour of both Northern Ireland and the more north-westerly parts of Eire. The scenery is quite incredible, I wasn’t prepared for just how stunning and empty the Donegal and Derry beauty spots were – totally unspoilt.

The view across Lough Swilly

We didn’t have a chance to stop in Belfast, but would do so on a future trip – massive investment has been put into the city and certainly one area that caught my eye on the way through was the Titanic museum and waterfront.  I’ve stayed at Malmaison before and of course it was good, comfortable and great value for what it is.

One thing that caught us unawares was just how much daylight there is at this time of year!  I’ve checked the map since I got back and whilst it doesn’t look that much further north than Southampton, the northness does indeed give significantly more daylight – in June it was going dark at 11pm and getting daylight around 4am!  Don’t be fooled – we had a number of far later nights than we realised which plays havoc with the body clock on return!! I have concluded that daylight wise – I am probably more of a tropics person!! Regardless – the weather was stunning, so I am glad we had the extra hours to enjoy it!

Almost 11pm at the end of June – still light

The Giant’s Causeway shouldn’t be missed.  This is National Trust and so if you are in NI and a member, don’t forget your membership card.  I assume there must be a free way in too however as it is on a coastal set of footpaths?  This impressed us massively.  It was busy and so had the potential to be spoilt, but actually there is plenty of space and so it isn’t hectic (although why do families have to shout long distance to each other ‘gee have you seen that island over there, that’s Scotland’…).  You can clamber about on the causeway and there is always a spot to get a peaceful photo and enjoy the view, safe in the knowledge that once you’ve walked back up to the carpark there is another one of those fantastic National Trust tea rooms!!

Giants Causeway

Those of you that notice more than what you go to see will also spot that the pavements are formed of little paving stones of a similar shape to the causeway bricks…. little things 😉

So to Donegal – we stayed in a gorgeous spot near to the old plantation village of Ramelton.  There are countless B&B and self-catering options in the area, but this one really struck a chord – it looked sumptuous and was remote and satisfied what I would have looked for in a hotel but without the $$$ price tag.  And it delivered!  Lough Swilly is known as ‘amazing grace’ country and I have had that song going round my head for days since, not a bad thing!

Home from home

The west coast of Ireland, not just Donegal, has a driving route called the ‘Wild Atlantic Way’.  This is really useful as the signs mean you avoid getting lost and don’t need to keep your head in a map and the signs also point out viewing spots and parking that will be near interesting places.   This is a very easy way to see the coastline at its best.  It takes you through open country and villages.  There are plenty of places to stop.  The pubs weren’t quite as ‘picture postcard’ as I had hoped, but once inside they were welcoming and had good food – and so my husband tells me, the Guinness was good!  In some areas there were painted bikes with flowers in front and back baskets, this was a lovely touch and we have many photos of these pretty bikes!

Scenic and welcoming

What struck us most, in an end of June visit at the start of Irish school holidays, was just how empty and spacious the area was.  We spend much of our time at weekends in the New Forest or South Downs and so are used to busy roads, tracks and pubs, but this was so much quieter that it was really possible to do things at your own pace!

Below are pictures from the route around the Fanad Head peninsula.  If you want a fancy meal or glass of wine then I think that Rathmullan House is the place for a good meal etc, but we were always dressed in walking gear and didn’t want the hassle of smartening up!

Space, views and sheep

As we were in the area due to the Clipper Race festival in Derry (more later) we asked some council dignitaries to give us some recommendations of what to visit.  They were very specific that we should not miss Glebe House or Glenveagh National Park.  I am glad we listened as they were right.  It may not have been on the coast (normally our favourite place to be), but my was it beautiful, very glad we listened and left the beaches behind for an afternoon!  Glebe House and gallery was actually shut on the day we visited, but the gardens were open and Mr P partook in a spot of cartwheeling.  Glenveagh was happily open, and it is free to walk the grounds.  There is a lovely walk along the lough to the castle (where there is of course a tea room) – about 4km each way and relatively flat.  Very enjoyable.

Glenveagh and Glebe House

As well as visiting Glenveagh we did also drive right around the coast down to Dungloe, via Bunbeg.  I had read in the Mail app (I know, shocking… I read the Times to counter it) that there were lovely sights to see at both places (sea arch, pebble beach and wreck) but we couldn’t actually find them without 3G and no OS map, but I am sure they are there if you do more prior research than getting a driving map!!

On our final day in Donegal the sun shone once again, and so we explored the coastline up to Malin Head.  Again – it was EMPTY!  But we found it even prettier than Glenveagh – the sea was that lovely colour it goes on a cloudless sunny day and the beaches were made for walking on!  Our particular favourite was Five Fingers Strand that we almost didn’t spot, but then we found it and for a beach that must be at least 3 miles long there were a maximum of 4 of us on it!  Drive up to Malin head as the view is stunning, you can see across to Fanad Head and the mountains of Donegal and I suspect we saw Scotland too, but just didn’t realise it!!  It is busy at this headland, so it won’t be relaxing – you’ll come across many ignorant and dangerous drivers who want to park right at the top and not do any walking…. so prepare yourself for it (then run back to peace and quiet).

Malin Head and Five Fingers Strand

So Donegal – we decided that it had a mix of many of our favourite places – the landscape is a mix between the Lake District, Cornwall, Norfolk and Jamaica!  An eclectic mix I must say but it has mountains, rugged coast, sand dunes and the property layout and roads have something Caribbean-esqe about them!

After Donegal we headed into Derry-Londonderry, a city that has been through much but which is writing a fantastic new story.  My husband used to be responsible for the Clipper Race relationship with Derry and so he wanted to take me to this years festival to see what it was all about.  Very proud of what he and they have achieved – nuff said!  The people of Derry have hearts of gold – I had met a few before, but lovely to meet more and spend more time with them.  And do they know how to put on a party…. Yes indeed!  We didn’t get a chance to see the city – we’ll do that next time!  But what I would say is to watch out for information for June-ish time in 2016 as the Clipper festival will be back in town, as will we, and no doubt it will be even bigger and even better.

Derry-Londonderry and the Clipper stopover

The Red Arrows were fabulous.  I haven’t seen them for many years and it was a real treat to be directly underneath them when we headed out to the racestart in Greencastle which was just up the coast.  We stayed at the City Hotel on an agent rate, great location with a view of the peace bridge from our room.  Good base to explore the city and whilst not ‘cute’ in the same way as our Donegal accommodation, it very much did the job.

And who knew just how close Northern Ireland (the area around the Giant’s Causeway anyway) is to Scotland.  Certainly not me, despite my degree in all things geographical…  We had such a clear view on the way back to the airport of so many of the scottish islands as well as into the mountains around Loch Lommond.

There be Scotland

Sadly we couldn’t see Iceland despite it being marked on this helpful map!