Rambling to Ramelton

Is the Donegal to Ramelton Route worth visiting?

On this drive, you can see Quintessential Ireland with white sheep on green hills and stone walls bordering paddocks. Enjoy narrow lanes to isolated vistas of forts and coastlines. Visit a neo-Gothic cathedral and enjoy a meal in Letterkenny. Relax in non-touristy antique Ramelton.

Read on to find out how to make the most of your time — see which photos fascinate you, decide which places you should visit, as well as get links to our custom Google maps and itinerary planning information.

Author & Photographer: George Mitchell

Our content and advice are derived from our personal experience and knowledge, gained from living in Europe for seven years and studying its art and architecture. Our recommendations are not influenced by affiliate links – we do not have any.  Ireland is one of our favourite destinations.

All of our recommendations are top-rated by Google Maps, which is based on the opinions of everyone, not just tourists. Each place recommended in our posts and our Ireland North Map is appended with a Google Maps Rating (G0 to G5).

Donegal to Ramelton

Today’s route goes from Donegal through back roads to Ramelton, close to Northern Ireland. It is day 31 of our remarkable 36-day odyssey to Ireland.

Maghery Beach

Rain may have dampened our views, as the photos on the web certainly show the beauty of Maghery Beach tinged by turquoise waves. Nevertheless, we felt it was just not in the same class as the many other beaches we have shown you before, like our post from Galway to Gurteen Bay.

But the short trail to the beach was strewn with brown-banded snails.

Parts of the next stretch are narrow, as in one lane. Definitely don’t be put off (there was not much traffic today) as the views are the best.

Driving this road — no, not the one in the photo — made the trip to Maghery Beach worthwhile. There are sheep paddocks with an ocean backdrop, littered with jagged rocky islets.

The road comes close to an 1804 watchtower, which can be seen from the beach. Wow, they really feared a Napoleon invasion. Napoleon was actually an ethnic Italian from Corsica. He won almost every battle he fought and became a general in the French army at 24! 1804 was also the year Napoleon became emperor of France. He was finally defeated at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

But his Napoleonic Code lives on as the foundation of the legal system of 1/4 of our planet. It championed the basic tenets of the modern world — meritocracy, equality before the law, property rights, religious freedom, abolition of feudalism and consolidation of jurisdictions. Ironically, the latter facilitated the unification of Germany in 1871. We can thank Napoleon for the metric system. The originally unpopular metric standard was enforced throughout all of Western Europe conquered by Napoleon.

The road to Crohy Head Sea Arch went through verdant pastures. There were no signs. Most of the pasture fences were locked, so we assumed farmers did not want tourists traipsing through their properties. It is debatable whether it is worth doing this stretch of the road.

Bloody Foreland

We retraced our steps north to Dungloe. The road was uneventful until the Bloody Foreland viewpoint. This name did not originate from a bloody battle but from the intense red hue of the rocks at sunset. In this area, Irish is still the dominant language.

The most important target scenery of today, Mt. Errigal, was hidden by low-flying clouds. We stopped at the Dunlewey and other viewpoints, but bubkes.

Glenveagh NP

Glenveagh NP was too wet to go hiking, and the buses and tours to Glenveagh Castle were full as this was a holiday weekend.

Letterkenny

St Eunan’s Cathedral

The Cathedral opened in 1901 and is built in Victorian neo-Gothic style on a site overlooking the town. Unfortunately, too many overhead wires and chimneys block the views of the surrounding grassy hills. While the style is old, the cathedral looks new. That is no wonder since in 2001 the sandstone exterior was cleaned and the stone was repointed.

The cathedral is furnished with a marble pulpit by the Pearse Brothers of Dublin. The pulpit depicts statues of the Four Masters, the same friars who are honoured by the Church of the Four Masters in Donegal.

The original altar-piece, an Irish carving of Leonardo‘s Last Supper, was incorporated into the new altar.

Rabble Children Statues

The Rabble Children monument was created (1994) by Maurice Harron, a Northern Irish sculptor from Derry. Hiring fairs were held in Letterkenny in years gone by when children between the ages of 11 and 16 were sold for periods of six months to wealthy farmers of the Lagan Valley. It is shocking how children are treated. A Google search found that there is a Rabble.ca organization in Canada that champions the rights of children.

Rabble Days were held annually in May and November at the corner of Speer’s Lane and Upper Main Street. Letterkenny is the main market town even today. So we took advantage before heading to tiny Ramelton.

Ramelton

Once again, we stayed at a superb B&B — I think all of our B&B choices in Ireland were very good. This one was located along the river on the outskirts of town.

We stayed three nights at this historic Victorian house built in 1845. It was the home of Catherine Black, the nurse to King George V. Both the living and dining rooms are furnished with antiques, paintings and family photographs.

Final Comments on this Itinerary

This is a tranquil day trip where you can get away from the crowds of tourists and visit areas not well known.

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Itinerary Maps & Guides

This itinerary is part of our Best Places for 2 Weeks in the North of Ireland and Ireland North itineraries.

Ireland North Map – our custom Google map

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Google Maps provides a rating from 0 to 5 for all sights, hotels and restaurants (but not cities). All of our recommendations are appended with the rating (prefixed with a G) from Google Maps. As it is based on feedback from tourists and locals, it is much more reliable than travel booking websites. We consider a score of 4 to 4.39 to be Very Good; 4.4 to 5 to be Excellent.

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