Climbing on the rugged sea cliffs in Donegal on Irelands west coast it's almost impossible not to destress, relax and become totally immersed in this wonderful landscape. A perfect place for that wild experience away from the hustle and bustle of daily life.
Following our visit to the towering dolerite cliffs of Fairhead we head to Donegal and immediately park our little van above the cliffs of Slieve League. Here the vast and rugged coast and gloomy atmosphere gave the feeling of complete remoteness with sheep the only things to notice the Red Arrow parked up above the cliffs. Unbeknown to us we van bivvied on the access road to the cliffs usually closed to public cars. Still nobody bothered us and as such had no more than a 5 minute approach to the cliff edge.
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 | | Breakfasting at Sleive League |
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 | | Sail Rock |
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The cliffs are amongst the biggest in Europe and we had arrived to climb Main Mast (E2, 69m) on an isolated slab of good rock called Sail Rock amongst an environment of chossy inaccessible cliffs.
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| Slieve League |
The Sail Rock is massive and we spend a good hour setting up an abseil. First we jump on Roaring Forties (VS, 87m) which climbs the edge of the slab and the arete. We drop in and climb the route from as far down as possible. The first pitch is very slabby and nothing special. Pitch 2 (mine) was actually quite poor, with lots of grassy corners and ledges. However, the final pitch when the climber actually swings round onto the face of the slab is really good. A good warm up.
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 | | Pitch 1 |
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 | | Top Pitch |
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We abseil in again to climb Main Mast. We decide not to go the very bottom as the first slabby pitch isn't really worth it. However from the fault line there is a diagonal crack that is followed to the top in two long sustained pitches.
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 | | Me on Pitch 1 |
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 | | Thin moves |
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A hanging belay is set up mid route. Though uncomfortable and cramped this really gives the route character.
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| Me following the seam |
The route really does live up to its reputation as the best route in Ireland. Completely sustained, long and involved with brilliant technical moves. Loved it.
With Main Mast in the bag we move on to North Donegal and catch the ferry to Gola Island.
The small ferry that operates during the summer takes 10 minutes. On the island there is a holiday bungalow or two but not much else and we were the only people staying on the island. We lug our loads across to the beautiful little bay on the west coast (15 minutes) and set up camp. Its an absolutely idyllic spot and we spend the afternoon reccying the cliffs.
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 | The Cricket - Taxi to Gola
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 | | To be our Camp |
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The cliffs on Gola aren't enormous being about 25m high only. They are however very aesthetic and steep. And made up of weathered, course, pink granite. We left the 85m abseil rope behind and it was obviously not needed here on Gola. Instead we planned on using one of our thin climbing hopes to abseil in with and the other, doubled over to give two strands, to climb with. Rope protectors are essential here for the abseil rope as the course rock can do some serious damage.
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 | | Not bad eh? |
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 | | Wild seas |
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| Admiring the view |
The following day we went to the main cliff and climbed three class routes. The tides were perfect and the sea reasonably calm (at least for the Atlantic).
We climbed...
Run of the Arrow (VS 4c, 25m). Good quality corner climb
Sundance (VS 4c, 17m). A harder than it looks groove.
Cornered Rats (HVS 5b, 17m). Hard steep laybacking or 3D back-and-footing (Worth E1)
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 | | Pilar on Run of the Arrow |
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 | | Looking down Cornered Rats |
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Pilar made short work of both VSs and I had an absolute battle on the Cornered Rats. It could have been fatigue or the feeling of complete remoteness but I found myself really engrossed and having to draw on all my climbing experience. The top of the groove was overhanging forcing me to employ three dimensional climbing techniques and udge my way up the corner before laybacking steeply to glory. It was a hard, under-graded route.
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 | Scrambling on the rocks
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 | Topping Out
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Feeling like the week at Fairhead and Gogarth was catching up with us we finished at an little inland crag to climb a simple route Get Off the Bandwagon (VS 4c, 14m) after which we chilled on the beach cooking a meal in the most perfect spot imaginable. Just fantastic.
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 | | Me on a VS - Inland cragging |
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 | | Evening fun |
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 | | Just gorgeous |
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 | | Dinner spot |
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The following day some very bad weather was predicted and we made a point of catching Sabba's Ferry early as we really didn't want to be stranded on the island.
 | Returning from the crag
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 | | Ferry back |
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Gola island (along with Critch Island and the awesome looking Owey Island) really offers superb granite adventure trad of all grades in a wonderful setting. Recommended!
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| Highly memorable! |
