We survived our first night of wild camping on the Donegal Pier the rubbish truck woke me at 6am emptying the bins but apart from that it was quiet and peaceful with the birds chirping away. The sky is overcast, no rain so it should be a nice day probably cool.

The only thing about wild camping there is no public toilets on the Pier (we don’t like polluting the toilet with No.2’s) and we just made it to Aldi’s round the corner plus we found the only public toilet block across the street.

After a very busy Saturday night the town is very quiet as we stroll around the city square listening to the Norway Choir singing in the square. Lovely to listening to them practising their songs plus doing a few requests. Being Sunday a day of rest the Tourist Information Centre is not open so we called in to the Donegal Waterbus shop and the Owner was very helpful with pamphlets, maps and sights to see, also fresh sandwiches from a cruise.

Armed with the maps we set of on the first leg of the Wild Atlantic Way round the coastline on route N5 round the River Eske and estuary through lush green terrain, small villages with a fantastic view of Donegal Bay and the Blue Stack Mountains. Winding down through the glens there were glimpses of Iver Bay at Dunkineely before we reached the fishing port of Killybegs in McSwynes Bay.

A good stop for lunch not much to see only lots of large fishing trawlers that go way out in the Atlantic up the coast of Europe, a cruise ship, B&B’s and two hotels. The harbour pier is another spot where you see motorhomes parked for the night and there are a couple next to us.

Now we are winding our way up and down through the mountains and valleys or glens round Fintragh Bay where we stopped on the mountainside like many others to soak in the views. Little coffee van there making money. This is what I like about Ireland there are lots of viewing bays to pull over to enjoy the magnificent scenery, which we did many times as we drove through the mountainous countryside over streams and many little bridges. At Carrick we missed the sign to go to Slieve League (Sliabh Liag) the cliffs are amongst the highest in Europe and have stunning views of the surrounding coastline and an awe inspiring sight of the waves from the mighty Atlantic Ocean as they crash onto the shore some 598m below.

The R263 road took us through barren mountainous countryside, winding rocky streams and you can see for miles peat being carved from the mountainside and bagged up. The sheep are not afraid of the vehicles and you have to be very careful as they just wonder across the road grazing. The long narrow winding road to Malin More and Malin Beg (Beach) seems to take forever but like all the other vehicles and coaches that travel there the visit is worth it even if you have close shaves on the narrow road.

Once there from the top of the cliffs you have stunning views of the protected bay and the golden sandy beach below. We didn’t tackle the steep steps that lead all the way down to the beach like some other enthusiastic tourists. Met a lovely Canadian couple who advised us when we go to Slieve League to park in the very top carpark and we are glad to have taken his advice.

It is a long drive back to Carrick where we took the wrong turn at the fork and ended up at the small village of Teelin and harbour. We are very good at back tracking now plus we see extra scenery. Finally we did manage to find the once again long winding road to Slieve League, didn’t park at the lower carpark like everyone else who walked the long distance to the magnificent views. The narrow winding road up round the side of the mountains edge is quite scary one slip of the accelerator and you are over the cliffs edge into the ocean. So glad we came and the views are stunning, but as always there is a long drive back to Donegal Richard doesn’t want to continue up the coast and wild camp, as we need diesel plus it is late in the afternoon and the weather could change.