Inishowen
58 km
Sunday 12th and Monday 13th September 2010 Castlerock via Lough Foyle to Clonmany
Our original plan was to spend three nights touring Inishowen, a small peninsula which is part of Donegal, in the Irish Republic. The first night was to have been at Malin Head - the northern most part of Ireland. But the temperature had dropped and very strong winds were promised for Monday and Tuesday with lots of rain as well on Monday. Lowered temperatures alone aren’t a deterrent to cycling, so we decided to go to Magilligan Point and take the ferry across Lough Foyle and then make up our minds as to where to go when we reached Moville. Soon after leaving Castlerock, we went past the Bishops Palace at Downhill, but failed to find the Mussenden temple.
Soon we were on the very attractive beach of Downhill, which unfortunately allows access to cars. After Downhill, the small coast road passes below high rocky cliffs on the left side while on the right side there is a grassy strip, the single railway track and sandy beach, then the sea with white breakers and beyond it, a view of Donegal. The road gradually moves inland and eventually crosses the railway. Soon after that, we took the minor road to Magilligan Point, passing a forbidding-looking prison that was used to house many of those interned during the troubles. While we waited for the ferry, we had a quick look at the Martello Tower on the grassy sand dunes.
We spent two nights at Glen House: a Georgian building, 2 km from Clonmany, restored 15 years ago by an American lady, now retired and living in the village after passing on the Glen House mantle. We had a huge room with good views. Sonia McGonigle, the new owner was very welcoming and a great talker, telling us about her experiences in catering, going through the road blocks into Derry for shopping and the history of Glen House. She encouraged us to use the sitting room and gave us tea and home made cakes. It was a couple of miles to the nearest place to eat and we didn’t fancy a bike ride in the rain. On the first night, Sonia fetched us fish and chips. When we came back totally saturated after a walk, she dried all our clothes for us.
The Lough Foyle ferry runs a shuttle service across Lough Foyle between Magilligan Point and Greencastle, taking about 10 minutes to cross.
On arrival in Greencastle, we turned left and rode along the coastal road to Moville, where the Sunday double parking by the church made the entry to the town a bit slow. We rode through the attractive high street as far as a little bay at the other end of the town, then went back up the hill to the Cosy Cottage for lunch. While we consumed our soup in this warm environment, we deliberated on our next move. The forecasts (on George’s iPhone) were still predicting a lot of rain for Monday, so we decided to bypass Malin Head and go straight to Glen House at Clonmany with a view to staying two days. A phone call confirmed availability so we set off, climbing the hills to Carndonagh where we rested in the square, being reminded by the rows of different coloured shops that we’d seen many similar on our previous trip to Ireland in 2002. As we approached Ballyliffin (a small golfing and seaside resort on the coast) the wind began to seem more challenging and the rain came down as well, so we stopped for a warm drink in a Londis supermarket with a coffee area.
Clonmany is a few kms beyond Ballyliffin and Glen House a couple more beyond that. The countryside: hills, moors and coast were very attractive, even in the bad weather. We were pleased to reach Glen House to find a warm welcome from Sonia the landlady. The open gas-fired coal fire in the sitting room was very welcome as were the tea and home made cakes. We stayed in, reading in the large and attractive house for the rest of the day.
Monday was, as predicted, a very wet and windy day. But we went out and walked to the Glenevin Waterfall via a path that can be accessed from outside Glen House. There are good paths up both sides of a rushing stream of brown peaty water. The surroundings are beautiful: black-faced sheep, green moss, flowers, a small waterfall half way up and then a big wide one at the top. We took another track to a viewpoint overlooking the nearby beach. We then walked down the road, onto Tullagh Beach, along the beach and into Clonmany via a lane lined with alder trees. We got food from the supermarket and then walked back, put our totally saturated clothes and shoes clothes to dry and stayed in for the rest of the day.
On Tuesday morning we were greeted by a very strong, gusty wind and we weren’t sure whether cycling was feasible. But it was time to move on, so we went out for a test ride and then, not having been blown away, we set off for Derry, up and over the hill to Buncrana where we had lunch at a cafe where Sonia used to work. On the coast, the full force of the wind struck us, so we struggled along beside the fierce, choppy waters of Lough Swilly and past Inch island.
