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Read more and view lots of photographs from previous years:

2016 - https://www.welovedonegal.com/blog/sandras-run
2017 - https://www.welovedonegal.com/blog/sandras-run-2017
THE HOMECOMING https://www.welovedonegal.com/blog/sandras-run-the-homecoming
2020 MEMORIES COLLAGE
https://www.welovedonegal.com/blog/sanras-run-memories-collage
2022
https://www.welovedonegal.com/blog/sandras-run-2022 ​

~ Bundoran
~ Carrickfinn
~ Culdaff, Inishowen
~ Downings
~ Fintra, Killybegs
~ Killahoey (Dunfanaghy)
~ Marble Hill (Dunfanaghy)
~ Murvagh (nr. Donegal Town)
~ Naran (Narin)
~ Portsalon. Fanad
~ Rossnowlagh
~ Stroove (Shroove), Inishowen 

Donegal has been awarded two Blue Flag Marina Awards 2023:

~ Greencastle, Inishowen
~ Rathmullan.

CRITERIA: "The Blue Flag is an international environmental award made to beaches and marinas throughout the world that demonstrate good environmental standards and have good sanitary and safety facilities. The award is made by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), an independent non-profit organisation."

Donegal has been awarded four Green Coast Awards 2023: 
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~ Ballyheirnan, Fanad
~ Dooey, Lettermacaward
~ Drumnatinney, Ballyness Bay, Falcarragh
~ Magheroarty 

CRITERIA: "The Green Coast Award is to recognise beaches of high environmental quality. The award is for beaches which have excellent water quality, but which are also prized for their natural, unspoilt environment. Applicant sites must be managed in partnership with the local community to be considered for the Green Coast Award. The programme is supported by the Department of the Housing, Local Government and Heritage."

​(Click on any of the photographs to enlarge).

“The most distressing thing is that this should not have happened at all.”  The coroner, Dr. McGinley.

Earlier in the day the local garda sergeant had been informed but for some reason ignored advice all gardai were given at the time: "Whenever a report that an explosive article has been washed ashore is received by a Garda Station, the member in charge will immediately take such steps as are necessary to ensure that no-one approaches to within 500 yards of the article ...".  

His ignoring this advice resulted in the deaths of nineteen young men and teenagers that day.

People from the locale gathered on the shore to view the large bomb and eventually most wander off home leaving a small group there.  
 
Two of them, James Rogers and James Roarty, took fishermens ropes and waded out to it intending to pull it to a calmer area of sea where it would not be hitting roughly off rocks. 

They were not, as is often cited, having fun.  No, they were attempting to move it to a quieter area of the sea to stop it moving so roughly, dangerously hitting rocks.

They were trying to avoid the thing that then happened: a massive and deathly explosion.  An explosion so loud it is said it was heard as far away as Letterkenny, over 40 miles away.

A local man, Pat Gallagher, who was a child of 10 years at the time and who lost his father and two uncles in the explosion said “The group, who ranged in age from 14-34, were not a bunch of teens who didn’t know better, they were trying to move the device to an area where it would be less affected by the currents.”
Meaning Pat’s grandparents lost three sons that day and three other families lost two sons each.

Local historian, Paddy McGarvey, said “No-one ever thought that a tiny Donegal community would suffer the effects of WW2 in this terrible way.  It was one of the major tragedies of the war for a neutral country and the least documented.”  He went on to say “The sight of so many coffins lined up in the church is something that no-one would ever want to see again.  It was a devastating blow to the area and the communities affected to this day never fully recovered.”

A documentary about the disaster by Denis Harley "Ballymanus Mine Disaster May 10th 1943".

A song about the disaster "Caoineadh Baile Mhanai" by Paul Douglas.

The Eurovision Song Contest will take place in the beautiful city of Liverpool, England in May this year.  Ireland has won the contest seven times, the first being in1970 with Dana singing ‘All Kinds Of Everything’. 

There followed Johnny Logan in 1980 with ‘What’s Another Year’, Johnny Logan again in 1987 with ‘Hold Me Now’.  Next came Linda Martin in 1992 with ‘Why Me’ Niamh Kavanagh with ‘In Your Eyes’ in 1993, Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan in 1994 with ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Kids’ and the last time we won was in 1996 with Eimear Quinn singing ‘The Voice’.

2023 is the 67th Eurovision Song Contest and we in Donegal are hoping to see Ireland romp home as winners with a Donegal musician at the helm .

Six acts will compete on the Late, Late Show on RTE in February to represent Ireland this year and two of those acts are very talented Donegal musicians.

Leila Jane with her song ‘Wild’ is from New Mills just outside the town of Letterkenny and Andrew Carr, aka Agdy who will sing his song 'Too Good For Your Love', is from Bunbeg in Gweedore, Donegal.  Let’s get behind them and push for a Donegal act to not only represent Ireland but to bring the win to our own county of Donegal. 

We wish them each the very best of luck ~ and stay tuned … MORE UPDATES ON THIS VERY SOON.  

Visiting some of the better known holy wells of County Donegal is simple.  They are on maps and usually signposted.  However, finding the many, many not so well known in the county can prove difficult and in some cases, impossible.

So far, I have only failed to find two of those I know of and it could be that these are no longer in existence.  I will still keep asking and investigating and may some day find them.

In the meantime, I continue to visit more of Donegal's holy wells to photograph and find local information on.

And, as with the heading here, the key definitely is local help.

For instance, I wanted to find the holy well in Mountcharles that is dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul and had a vague idea where it was from old maps.

Which showed the holy well in this field ... 

Now just imagine having to search this muddy field without local help!

Luckily, a local man in the area who had never heard of this holy well even though he had lived there his entire 40 plus years, was able to direct me to another man in the area.  I asked 'is he the man who knows everything?' and he smiled, and said 'yes'.

This is my name for the man or woman who has great local knowledge and they have proven invaluable in my quest to find all the holy wells of Donegal.

We found the Man Who Knows Everything and a very nice man he was too.  When asked for directions he simply took up his hiking stick and said 'come with me.'

Walking along the road to the above field we chatted and he told me bits of history about the well and the area and even people who lived in some of the old, now derelict cottages we passed on the way.

Entering the field The Man Who Knows Everything (TMWKE) walked over the field with me splashing through mud behind him and my husband making sure I didn't end up on my bum in the mud!  

And there it was, the holy well of St. Peter and St. Paul, still with fresh water and surrounded by lots of greenery.  Such a joy to find it is still there and in pretty good condition considering it has been buried under lots of bushes for many years.

​TMWKE also pointed out the three cairns there (now under lots of growth and not really visible) and also the location of St. Peter's Seat, a rock there I had read about.

So if you need to find anything always look for the Man or Woman Who Knows Everything in an area - they are there, and like the holy wells, you just need to find them.

People of west Donegal will once again enjoy the exciting spectacle of hundreds of motor-bikers making their way along our roads. 

These men and women come from all over Ireland, the UK, and further afield to get together to honour the memory of a young girl called Sandra Boyle of Killybegs, County Donegal, who tragically lost her life to leukaemia on the eve of her 18th birthday. 

​Her parents, Jim and Rosaleen, organise this charity event each year to honour Sandra and also to raise a lot of  money for various charities, this year being The Mater Foundation.  

Teddy bears and other soft toys are tied to fences, poles, trees etc. along route of the ride and bikers and cars on it usually have soft toys tied to them.  It really is heart-warming and quite a sight to see and shows the support of so many for this event.

If you are on the route, please try to have at least one soft toy attached to your fence, gate, etc.  And be sure to get out to wave to the bikers as they pass!

Tourists in any of the towns will enjoy this spectacle too ~ the noise of hundreds of motorbikes approaching will ensure they won't go by unnoticed that's for sure!  Again, be sure to give them a big wave and get involved by adding pics or video clips to your social media hashtag it #SandrasRun #Donegal and whatever town you are in when you see them.

Remember: SATURDAY 2ND JULY 2002 is the day!  For this years route, scroll down.

PREVIOUS Sandra's Run posts here.
Sandra's Run 2017 
Sandra Run ~ the homecoming of the bikers  
Sanra's Run ~ Gweebarra Bridge 

This is turning into quite an adventure and almost a competition with myself.

Currently I am up to approximately 61 sites with many more being investigated prior to attempts to find them.

Of course there are still some to find that will be quite easy but there are quite a few more that may prove more difficult.

Much homework is done prior to a field outing to photograph a site and speak to locals about their own Holy Well.

At home my husband searches old maps trying to pin-point exact locations and I spend days reading anything I can find about each site.  

Each field trip turns into a 12-14 hour day given the travelling and then investigating information from those who know in each area.  We may return home having only been able to get to a couple of them but learning so much on the way.

Recently we found one that I had never heard of before.  My husband found it on an old map during his research so we set out to find it.

It sits at the very top of a hill in Inishowen and is interesting too in that it sits right beside an ancient ringfort, now collapsed.  I spoke at length with the farmer who owns the land and his memories of it as a child and more recent information.  He said that not many people come to it now but that local schools bring their children there every now and then which is good in that it keeps it alive moving forward into the future.

Getting to it involved driving up a winding road, passing through a farmyard in our car and then on to the top.  A short climb up an uneven piece of ground, getting over an old barbed wire fence and then gingerly making my way over rocks and stones to get to the Well.  I was glad of the old fence along the perimeter as it gave me something to steady myself on as I made my way over rocks and uneven ground.

It was worth all the effort to find an unmodernised Well, still with votives left there.  Little bits and pieces and coins left by people who had come to pray for loved ones and still there and untouched since. 

From where I stood I could see much of Inishowen and more particularly extensive views over the Isle of Doagh and Trawbreaga Bay.

Seeking out and finding more Holy Wells of Donegal is proving quite a very rewarding adventure.  Particularly one I will write about shortly, one which had us making our way through 5 feet high ferns to name but one of the obstacles!

Today, the 9th of June, is the feast of Donegal’s saint, Colmcille (aka Columba) who was born near Gartan in County Donegal in 521 AD.

Naturally there are quite a few Holy Wells in County Donegal dedicated to him, nearly two dozen in fact.

In my continuing quest to photograph as many of Donegal’s Holy Wells as possible, I visited a very interesting Holy Well on the Inishowen peninsula of Donegal which is dedicated to him.

Finding it, as has been the case with many Holy Wells, is a little difficult but asking locally ensured my husband and I had excellent directions making finding it then simple.
​
The approach to it however is not so simple.  It is on the shoreline below Binnion Hill and after you cross a thin concrete bridge, the ground becomes very uneven as it has been eaten away by the ebbing and flowing of the tide which has cut a channel alongside it.

After walking for al short while we rounded a bend and from there could see the metal cross on the shoreline which sits beside the Well.

The Well itself is a spring, fed from below, and surrounded by stones.  The setting is very pretty but we were warned to take care as the stones can be very slippery.  Which makes sense given they are covered by the sea twice a day and have sea plants stuck to them.  The sludge-like sand around the Well is thick and a bit boggy in places too.

The Well, like almost two dozen in County Donegal, is dedicated to Saint Colmcille and is said to have various cures.  A local man there told us the story of his then girlfriend, now wife.  He said that as a young couple they didn’t have much faith in cures at Holy Wells but she wanted to get rid of a wart on one of her fingers so he took her to this Holy Well and she dipped her finger in the water.  A month or so later she showed him her finger where the wart had once been showing it was now gone. 

He also told us that people used to take their cattle there to make sure they remained healthy and indeed Enri O’Muirgheasa’s 1936 book makes the following reference: “It was formerly believed that if cattle were driven between the well and the shore at full tide it would render them immune from disease …”. 
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Enri O’Muirgheasa further says about the water from this Well “… and was also a cure for infertility.”

And interestingly in the same book the author says “The tide passes over the well, but when the tide ebbs the water in the well is fresh.” 

I thought this seemed a bit far-fetched and so I had to taste the water from the Well.  How could the water remain fresh when it is covered by the salty sea twice a day?

I took a scoop of the water and as I stood there, with the sea coming in around me. I sipped it and the water was indeed fresh. 

This surprised me greatly so I took a second sip and this too was clear water with not a hint of salt. 

So there you go.  I can’t explain it but then with such things I suppose it just is and explanation is not necessary.

Sliabh Liag, a stunning part of County Donegal, are the highest accessible sea cliffs in Europe.  They stand magnificently above the crashing Atlantic Ocean 1,972 feet below.  For more on height comparisons scroll down.

You can stand on the viewing platform and just take in the pure, fresh sea air and absorb the ever changing colours of the cliffs before you.  In wet weather you will even see small waterfalls tumbling down the cliffs at various points. 

The colours of the rock formations and growths of different plants on the cliffs are an artist or photographers dream and I often think that some of our Donegal weavers get their ideas for colours from these cliffs.

THE HEIGHT AND HOW IT COMPARES ...

As to the height of the cliffs and to give you comparisons, Sliabh Liag stand at 1,972 feet / 601 meters and are taller than all these:

The Cliffs of Moher, another of Ireland’s famous attractions, stand at 702 feet / 214 meters making them just over a third of the size of Sliabh Liag.  And other notable places/buildings to compare with …

The Eiffel Tower in France stands at 984 feet / 300 meters.

The White Cliffs of Dover, 350 feet / 110 meters.

The Statue of Liberty, from ground to tip, 305 feet / 92.99 meters.

The Empire State Building, 1250 feet / 381 meters.  (1,454 feet/443 meters to tip).

So you can now get some perspective on how high Sliabh Liag actually is. 

Very high!  In fact they are the exact same height as the fourth tallest building in the world, The Abraj Al-Bait Clock Tower in Saudia Arabia.

Regardless of the height, it is still a place even those with concerns about heights can visit as there are fences at the edge and paths laid out.  But as with all high places great care must be taken and common sense comes in handy too.

People making their way to very top and to One Man's Pass.  Remember, cloud can form rapidly at such a height and can be a great danger.  

A WARNING ~ Please read.
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One final thing, if you take your dog with you NEVER, EVER take off its lead.  Why?  Because your dog, no matter how adorable, can scare one of the sheep always grazing there.  This can cause the sheep to run away and perhaps slip and tumble off the cliffs. 

If the sheep just died there and then that would be bad enough but no, many of them land on a ledge or unapproachable rocks below.  And because they can’t be rescued, they die there, slowly of starvation. 

​And if that doesn’t touch you, remember it could be your dog who slips and falls to die in that same, horrific way.  So NEVER take the lead off your dog/s there.