Inis Eoghain 100 - the best way to see Donegal.

It’s not a motor cycle race, nor is it the dish of the day at a Swedish restaurant; it’s a particularly dramatic and scenic driving route in one of the wildest and most beautiful parts of Ireland, the Inishowen (Inis Eoghain) Peninsula in County Donegal. The area is remote enough, but this route leads you away from what few main roads there are to climb barren peaks and cling tightly to cliff tops and dive into deep valleys.

One of the highlights is Kinnego Bay, a secluded stretch of yellow beach at the foot of a steep, wooded drop. The road down to the shore falls so quickly it’s difficult to imagine ever being able to get a car to go back up such a steep climb. Out in the bay, well below the water line, the wreck of the Trinidad Valencera has lain for some 400 years. It was one of the largest ships in the Spanish Armada and floundered in a violent storm off the Donegal coast. Or so they say – you don’t get to see it unless you go on a diving expedition. It’s a great place to spend a bit of time alone with just the sound of the waves and the wind. Complete isolation.

Malin Head is another of the highlights of the route. It’s claim to fame is that it is Ireland’s most northerly point, it’s southern counterpoint being Mizen Head in County Cork. There’s not a lot to see of course, just some abandoned bunkers that housed lookouts during WW11. A bit of an anomaly that, because Ireland was neutral during the war but gave permission to the United Kingdom to station a monitoring unit without telling anybody else. To make sure German bombers knew that the headland was not British territory the word EIRE was marked out with white stones in a field, stones which have been since rearranged to spell out the names of various lovers who have no doubt consummated their passion in the abandoned bunkers at some point.

The village of Malin is a few miles south of the headland, a small place with a shop, a few bars and a great hotel – the Malin Hotel – that advertises it’s food as “Irish charm with a twist of France”.

MALIN VILLAGE with its 9 arched bridge

A few miles away is Culdaff with it’s family friendly beach. McGrory’s bar and restaurant are famed but well over-priced even if the waitress is pretty. Much better places in nearby Carndonagh, like Simpson’s.

And then there is Mamore Gap, a road that follows a pass over the mountains on the west of the peninsula. Again we have an improbably steep road that twists and turns, and so long as there is no mist you get spectacular views over the area.

Buncrana is one of the bigger small towns along the route.

A holiday resort that has seen more prosperous times, it was renowned as a hide-out for IRA members in the 1970s and 80s when they needed to lie low after bombing civilians to pieces across the border in Northern Ireland. The place closes in the winter when nothing much happens, but if needed there are a number of standard hotels out along the coast, although they are bland and lacking in character and charm.

The route can be covered comfortably in a day depending on how long you want to stop and stare at views that are all versions of each other. But take your time. There’s no rush, and it will be time well spent just soaking up the atmosphere and the Guinness.