For this adventure, 4 days biking in south Donegal are spliced
onto the 6 routes of the Yeats Country itinerary to produce a tour
in which each day’s biking seems to surpass the previous one.
One thing is for sure – you will have trouble choosing your
favorite route from this selection! The itinerary (which is Tony
Boyd’s personal favorite) is best suited to those who have
done a bit of bicycle touring before, who enjoy the challenge of
a few hills along the way, and who relish the feeling of being 'out
in the wilds'.
This sparsely populated territory straddling the south west of
Ulster and the North East of Connaught is one of Ireland’s
undiscovered gems - an 
unspoiled
landscape of lakes and rivers, steep-sided gorges, forest-clothed
mountains and atmospheric moorland. William Butler Yeats, Ireland’s
most celebrated poet, took the inspiration for many of his best-known
works from the region.
Close to the town of Sligo, Lough Gill (route 1), wooded on three
sides, has a unique beauty. The surrounding area is known as Yeats
Country (routes 1, 2), where the curious flat-topped limestone
ridge that culminates in Ben Bulben dominates the landscape. Waterfalls
that tumble down the sides of deep limestone gorges feed the lakes
of Glencar and Glenade. Further to the north, a series of wide
sweeping sandy beaches form the coastline of Donegal Bay (Route
3), while inland, the Pullins (route 6, 7) is a tranquil hinterland
of secluded hills, small lakes and peat bogs.
Donegal, in the far northwest of the country, is the wildest,
most remote and unquestionably one of the most beautiful of the
Irish regions. The rugged Atlantic coastline that forms much of
Donegal’s perimeter is a long series of dramatic mountain
scarps and craggy inlets with rivers and lakes filling every channel
and basin. Inland, deep river valleys alternate with the prominent
parallel ridges of the Donegal mountain ranges. One third of Donegal
is
in the Gaeltacht where the Irish language and Irish cultural traditions
are preserved.
In the Blue Stack Mountains (routes 3, 5, 6) that straddle the
center of Donegal, fine scenic roads wind their way past whitewashed
cottages, alongside mountain streams and over sheep-grazed moorland.
West of the Blue Stacks, the great landmass of the Glen Peninsula
(route 4) juts out into the Atlantic. With few roads or paths,
much of the coastline is only accessible from the sea. At the
southern tip of the promontory the spectacular sea cliffs of Slieve
League drop to the ocean in particularly dramatic fashion.
Covering much of North Fermanagh (routes 6,7, 8), Lower Lough
Erne, island-flecked and ringed by castles, is one of the largest
and most picturesque lakes in the country. On its south shore,
the forest-capped limestone cliffs of the Fermanagh highlands
give fantastic viewpoints over the lake and across the Pullins
to the distant Donegal hills. The high ridge of Cuilcagh Mountain
(route 9), its lower slopes riddled with caverns and caves, towers
above the countryside of South Fermanagh (route 9). The county
of Leitrim (routes 10) is a jigsaw puzzle of hills, islands, lakes,
waterways and tiny market towns. It is also the birthplace of
the mighty River Shannon.
