Slieve League, Donegal, Ireland (Marilyn).

Slieve League, Donegal, Ireland (Marilyn).
I’m keeping these summaries short as I’m on a two month tour of Ireland and there’s a lot of hills to hike and therefore lots of entries. All mapping used are view ranger digital OS 1:50 or 1:25. You will get the best results by uploading my wikiloc gpx giles into this mapping software.
This is simply a superlative walk and it is one of the finest days out I’ve had in the British Isles or elsewhere for that matter. Slieve League is only a Marilyn, all 595m of it but it occupies a lofty spot on a shore line that has the highest cliffs in Europe. In addition it has an airy arête to the summit known as ‘one man’s pass’ ...awesome stuff. I parked in a large car park in Teelin at the start point. It’s free and has at least fifty spaces. As I was doing a loop I decided to start and finish at Teelin village but could have quite easy parked higher up the access road to the cliffs. Anyway off I went, uphill on the steepish access road to the main viewing point for Slieve League cliffs. 3.5kms later I was there and the views were simply stunning especially on a sky blue day like today. You now simply follow the cliff line up, down, around and heading in general north. The path is good and the views gorgeous. About three kms later you get to ‘one man’s pass.’ This is the lofty arête with extremely steep to near vertical drops on the water side but just silly steep on the inland side. However it ‘is’ wide enough to feel safe on and you always have a safe detour route just like any good UK grade one scramble. It is simply a great 6-700m section to Slieve League’s trig pointed summit. Then you get to do it all again in reverse. All this while the views are as good as it gets on this planet....brilliant! I will say if the wind gets above 20mph then take care. Approaching 30 then proceed with the utmost caution. It was 20mph today and just about comfortable. After this you hang a left and head down on the main tourist track that comes up from Teelin village heading generally SE. This is a good wide path and after 2kms or so you get onto tarmac and simply head back into the village some 3kms away. Ohhhh the views are still stunning by the way!
All in all 15 glorious kms with 862m of jaw dropping ascent in 4hrs 40mins. A must do hike and one that is described as one of the most remarkable in Ireland.