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Weekend Walk: There are no roads to this beautiful Donegal beach
Independent.ie
The more connected and developed our land becomes, the harder it is to find off-radar spots you can have to yourself… if only for a few minutes.
https://www.independent.ie/life/travel/ireland/weekend-walk-there-are-no-roads-to-this-beautiful-donegal-beach-38024452.html
https://www.independent.ie/life/travel/article38024298.ece/436ac/AUTOCROP/h342/Tra%20Mor%20Donegal.jpg
The more connected and developed our land becomes, the harder it is to find off-radar spots you can have to yourself… if only for a few minutes.
Well, recently, I found one at Trá Mór.
Ireland has several strands named Trá Mór (literally, 'big beach'), but this one – at the base of Donegal's Horn Head peninsula – is in a league of its own.
Driving from nearby Dunfanaghy, watch out for the car park sign pointing left after the lovely little arched bridge at the end of the sea inlet. From there, park up, enter via the gate and start walking through the woods.
It doesn't take long to hit the dunes, and for the wilderness to start.
Lurgabrack sand dunes, formed by tough grasses trapping wind-blown sand from the sea, form the undulating landscape stretching before you. A weathered Dúchas sign explains their origins, with illustrations of Greenland White-fronted geese and Cinnabar moths, recognisable by their striking red and black wings.
Pushing on, the paths rise and fall and your calves start to feel the burn. You'll wonder which dune leads to the beach… there are several false dawns.
You can skirt around them too, of course – lots of locals do. Either way, expect the outbound walk to take about half-an-hour, depending on how you dawdle.
And it is worth dawdling. If only to hear the sound change, to feel the wind rise – whispering in the grasses and roaring on the hilltops – to feel the traffic fade, to note the moment when roaring waves first enter your consciousness.
In summer and hot weather, you might be sharing the walk with plenty of others. In winter, or on colder days, you could have it to yourself.
On my outing, I came across a small herd of horses grazing, and got distracted several times by tiny little snails moving in slow-mo between long stems of grass. Small wonders thread a sense of intimacy through the widescreen scale of the place, with Muckish mountain brooding to the south.
Then you push through a final gate, summit a little hump, and boom!
The beach appears. A two-kilometre curve of sand stopping you in your tracks. Mine were the only footprints on the thing, with manes of steam hissed off rolling waves, and raindrops dribbling off the cliffs.
It's devastatingly beautiful – the fact that there is no direct road access makes it feel like a scene you could have stumbled across centuries ago.
Needless to say, there are no shops or facilities out here, so pack what you need and remember that you need to cover the same distance on the return.
There are dangerous currents and rip tides on Tramore too, so swimming is NOT recommended under any circumstances.
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