GreatRoads: Glengesh and southwest Donegal: Bob Montgomeryheads to Donegal on his tour of Ireland's Great Roads
The southwest corner of Donegal promises much for the touring motorist. Using Donegal town as a base, one road in particular offers a spectacular gateway to the region. This is the road through Glengesh Valley and over the heights of its pass to Glencolumbkille, Malin More and Malin Beg, and on to the spectacular Slieve League.
Take the N56 from Donegal town and follow its route almost as far as Ardara, situated at the head of Loughros More Bay. Turn off at Common Bridge, taking care to avoid the narrow road just before the road we travelled, which is signposted for Glencolumbkille.
The Glengesh river flows close to the southern side of the road as the mountain slopes of Glengesh Hill (385m) to the north, and Common Mountain (501m) to the south begin to creep closer to our road.
Before long the road begins to climb steeply through a number of hairpin bends towards Glengesh Pass. At the summit of the pass there is a fine view back along the road through the valley, while looking south rise Crocknapest (497 m) and Balbane Hill (472 m).
From the top of Glengesh Pass there are several interesting possibilities. The first and most obvious is to continue along the road as far as Glencolumbkille. The village of Glencolumbkille, as well as those of Malin More and Malin Beg a few kilometres further along the R263 are among the most isolated hamlets on this island. The valley and village of Glencolumbkille are named after St Columba, or Colmcille, the Irish monk who, with his followers is said to have lived here in the 6th century, and is most associated with the island monastery of Iona off the southwestern Scottish coast.
Glencolumbkille today probably owes its very existence to the late Father James McDwyer who was its parish priest in the 1950s. At a time when emigration was often the only choice, he set up a vegetable-processing factory, a machine-knitting enterprise and established a Folk Village Museum there, which allowed the villagers to stay and work in this beautiful but remote area.
Alternatively, from Glencolumbkille one can take the R263 in a southeasterly direction to the village of Carrick, turning right in the village for Teelin and the cliffs at Slieve League.
The road to Slieve League is narrow, and arrives at a car park where one can either continue by car or on foot. This last section of the road is narrow, winding and with many blind brows where one dreads to meet an oncoming car, all the while being aware that one is climbing beside spectacularly high cliffs.
Taken cautiously the drive is well worth the effort as it leads to a car park and viewing point near the highest point of the cliffs at Slieve League, the highest marine cliffs in Europe and one of the most spectacular places in Ireland.