Letterkenny- Fenad Head-Great Pollet Sea Arch

Tuesday 11th June 2024

Fanad Head is home to a lighthouse which was constructed after a Royal Navy Warship the HMS Saldanha sank in 1811 with all its crew in Lough Swilly which actually isn’t a Lough but a glacial fjord. The lighthouse was designed by George Halpin one of the most influential engineers in Irish history. He was appointed Inspector of Lighthouses and was responsible for the construction of over 50 lighthouses.

There is a good parking area a short distance from the lighthouse where you can purchase for 12 euros tickets to visit the lighthouse, to reach the top of the lighthouse you have to climb 76 steps. We would have been happy to just walk around the exterior of the buildings but it was still 12 euros each.

A short drive from there took us to todays wonderful experience, The Great Pollet Sea Arch.

Until recently there was a rough car park on a farmers land about half a mile from the beach and arch, however now there is a brand new car park further away and it’s now nearer a mile to the beach and a new footpath has been constructed through the farmers fields.

At the end of the footpath over the style is a shingle beach and the arch, to get the photo below I had to scramble over rocks and avoid rock pools being greatly in danger of getting my feet wet as motorhome buddy Peter often does.

Again today we saw some wonderful scenery as the minor roads we were on hugged the coast at times and rolled through farmland away from the coast. We drove past Port Salon a long sandy beach which in one poll in the Guardian newspaper was voted the second best in the world! You could stop every few miles and take photo after photo the scenery is so good.

Tonight we are stopping on a motorhome aire with services next to a sports ground on the outskirts of Letterkenny which is a large town which we felt no urge to explore.