MALIN HEAD AND SLIABH LIAG

The second full day in the north started with a stop at Lough Neagh, close to Toome. This is where the famous Irish eels are caught. We searched every way possible “where to eat eel in Ireland” and could not find it on a single menu. What I did find were a number of articles that said “The Irish don’t eat eel. Yuck. They are an export.”   It must be true because everyone we asked looked at us like we had 3 heads. We swiftly realized if we really did want to try eel, we would have to fish for it ourselves or wait until we get back to Vancouver!  There was a nice walk along the canal and its locks though, leading out to a point where there is a small tower remnant of a castle and a lovely view of the lake. Starting our day off with a bit of exercise proved to be a warm-up for what was to come.  

From Lough Neagh, we headed to Malin Head – a highlight of this little stint, being the most northerly point in Ireland. The drive, as expected, could be a little sketchy towards the end – the usual narrow roads.  When travelling by car, we’ve been taking turns – one day off, one day on. We’ve achieved a nice balance – Peter’s nervous when I drive, I’m nervous when he drives, yet somehow we make it to the end of the day. 
 
Malin Head was spectacular! We learned when we got there that it also has a Star Wars claim. The Millennium Falcon was assembled there and several scenes shot.  Prior to Star Wars, though, Malin Head has a previous claim to aeronautic history.  The Eire 80 you see in the photos below was a navigation marking system created during WWII so pilots would know where they were over the Atlantic. You can wander all over the coastline, and we did.  Peter got all excited when his geologist’s eye caught a massive quartz vein. To be fair, it was pretty cool and so we scrambled down to see it and also to take photos of the flowers that were growing in the cracks of the rocks (OK, that was mostly me).  We also had an excellent chat with Martina, who was one of the vendors up at the top with t-shirts and souvenirs. Great craic!  It was quite a hike out to the headland and back, after we had already been down the other side a fair distance. Well worth it though, for the stunning beauty of the place. 

​By the time we were done, we were well ready for a stop at the Malin Head Crab truck for a road lunch. We ended up leaving with about 2 kg of crab in one form or another and had it for our roadside lunch, then on a croissant with spread for supper, and again on a croissant with spread for breakfast the next morning.  Oh….and then cracked the 1 kg of massive claws for dinner the next evening as well!  They don’t call me crabby for nuthin’!
 
The day was wearing on by now and it was still 2 hours to Sliabh Liag (pronounced Slieve League).  Sliabh Liag has the highest cliffs in Ireland, being 2000 feet high and reputed awe-inspiring.  So I thought we should press on to it because the day was nice and it can change in a minute – certainly overnight – if we waited.  So press on we did. It was a long, slow, twisty drive on Peter’s favourite L and R-type roads.  Then it began to pour rain.  Oh well – we can drive right up to the viewing platform and at least get a photo. It continued to pour rain. But when we finally got to there, the rain cleared - WIN!  And there was a cone in front of the road leading up to the viewing platform.  Not so win-ish. Walkers coming down said it was about 30 minutes to the top and we groaned, already being tired from Malin Head. But there we were and it would be a waste not to, so we made the climb.  So worth it that we climbed another couple of hundred feet up the mountain. Sheep everywhere! All I could think of was “there’s some seriously free-range sheep here”.  Way up the mountain side on impossibly steep cliffs like it was no big deal at all. Scampering up the steps of the path making it clear that they have the right-of-way.  Clearly for them it wasn’t so much of a climb, but like the Skellig Island climb, this one was not for the feint of heart for us mere humans.  We didn’t do the whole pilgrims walk that is up there, but went a good distance to another big viewpoint. The pictures don’t do it justice, of course, but here they are anyway.

On the way down the cliff path, watching young kids who looked like they weighed 12 lbs wandering close to the edge as windy as it was, I couldn’t help curbing my mom urge to yank them away.  Then it came to me – the chorus of All About That Base – with an Alyson twist:  “My mama, she told me, don’t worry about your size. It stops the wind blowing you off of that cliff you climbed…” 

Hiking back down the mountain to the car, we were not so exhausted that we missed the crazy amazing views across the water.  Apparently wool makes sheep itchy too because we saw a big one having a big scratch against a rock, not giving two hoots about passers-by. 
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Another hour’s drive delivered us to Killybegs where we overnighted, well ready for sleep before another big day of plans!