Slieve League

Leaving Portrush on the morning of our third day, we went searching for hidden waterfalls, driving along one of Ireland’s notorious twisty roads in the small town of Adara, a road so narrow we had to pull aside for oncoming traffic. Hidden in plain sight along the side of the road, and standing about 300 feet high, we found the dazzling Assaranca Waterfall cascading between a cleft in the mountain into a small and inviting clear pond. (Ironically, the address for this hidden treasure is “unnamed road,” Co. Donegal.)

Assaranca Waterfall

From Assaranca Waterfall, we went spelunking in the nearby Caves of Maghera. After parking, we walked a short distance over the sand dunes where the white sandy stretch of Maghera Beach opened up to us, and on the western end, the mouths of the caves. The site boasts of eight arches, five tunnels, and more than twenty caves to explore, though they’re only accessible during low tide. Unfortunately, the day we visited, it happened to be high tide, and we could only enter one cave. Still, the dunes and the white sandy beach hedged by the caves and arches made for another beautiful view. Legend has it that during the Viking invasions of 807, the caves were where locals from Donegal hid out.        

Inside one of Maghera Caves

Without a doubt, the highlight of the day was Slieve League, a key point of interest on Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way. It is the site of the second highest sea cliffs in Ireland, three times as high as the more popular Cliffs of Moher, and some of the highest sea cliffs in all of Europe. With a peak of 1,972 feet, Slieve League translates to “mountain of stone pillars,” and ascending the mountain that day, one could see why.

We arrived at the Bunglass viewpoint late in the afternoon on a blustery day, and climbed a steep stone path to the first summit, part of the 4 K trail known as Pilgrim’s Path. The strong wind and the steep angle made the climb a little nerve-racking, (and the fact that the barrier fence went only so high,) so we had to mind our steps, but it was well worth it for the spectacular views of the sloping cliffs over Teelin Harbour and the Atlantic Ocean.  

Our path and view from atop the summit

Slieve League holds the remains of an early Christian monastic chapel, and monk’s dwellings known as beehive huts, and there are stone markings along Pilgrim’s Path indicating it had been a place of pilgrimage for Christians and earlier civilizations. On the way back to our car that afternoon, we saw a giant WW II era ‘EIRE’ sign still on the side of the mountain designating to pilots during the war that Ireland was neutral ground and a free fly zone.