Slieve League Cliffs
The Slieve League cliffs on the south Donegal coast of Ireland are among the highest sea cliffs in Europe, a great wall of quartzite and sandstone rising nearly 600 metres from the Atlantic Ocean in a cliff face of extraordinary scale and drama that dwarfs the more famous Cliffs of Moher and provides one of the most awe-inspiring natural spectacles on the Irish coast. The cliffs are accessible from the car park at Bunglass on the Slieve League peninsula and a dramatic coastal walk along the ridge above the cliff edge provides progressively expanding views of the full extent of the cliffs. The One Man's Pass, a narrow ridge with steep drops on both sides between Bunglass and the main summit of Slieve League, provides the most direct approach to the full height of the cliff face, its name reflecting the width at the narrowest section where two people cannot pass side by side. The exposure on both sides of this ridge, with the cliff edge to the south and steep ground to the north, gives it a genuinely vertiginous character that requires head for heights and appropriate footwear. Those who complete the crossing are rewarded with the finest possible perspective on the cliff face and the Atlantic below. The Donegal landscape surrounding Slieve League is one of the most unspoiled in Ireland, the combination of the mountain peninsula, the small fishing harbours of the south Donegal coast and the wild Atlantic Drive that traverses this section of the county creating a scenic touring experience of considerable quality. The evening light on the cliff face, particularly in the long summer evenings of northwest Ireland when the sun sets over the Atlantic horizon, creates a colour display on the quartzite rock that rewards any delay in returning to the car park.