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Walking Binnion Hill near Clonmany

Last Sunday, Steven and I joined the Magee Hillwalkers for a walk up Binnion Hill at Clonmany.

Overlooking the beautiful golden sands of Tullagh Bay, Binnion Hill (250m) is notable for a seemingly impossible dry stone wall that zig-zags for miles all the way up to the top, often raising the question – why was it built? It’s is an easy/medium rated walk, the most difficult part being the relatively steep heathery slope towards the summit.

Here we are near the bottom of the hill, crossing the enormous stone wall.

Halfway up and already stunning views of Tullagh Bay below, where we started our walk.

Looking back towards Clonmany, with Raghtin More (502m) at the furthest right of the picture.

Here is a panorama from this point that you can pan and zoom around.

We continued on, and soon the summit was in sight.

On closer inspection of the flagpole, there were some interesting items attached to it….it appears that it has become a bit of a tradition to leave an item of underwear attached to it!!

Here’s a panorama from the top, briefs and all! With no underwear to spare, we found a sheltered spot and had some lunch.

After lunch, we started our decent down the other side, heading towards Pollan Beach at Ballyliffin. Pollan Beach stretches from Ballyliffin all the way to Doagh Island, where the Famine Village is located.

The bog is dotted with seemingly random stone walls all over the place. Apparently this area was once covered in forest that was cut down by locals for heating their homes, the stone walls were shelters from the wind.

Coastline towards Pollan Beach.

We reached our destination of Pollan Beach in good time, and then ambled up the road to Ballyliffin Lodge for a well deserved cup of tea before heading home.

It was a lovely afternoon, many thanks to Sharon of Magee Hillwalkers for organising it and being such a knowledgeable guide.

April 16, 2012 at 2:12 pm | Walks | Tags: , , , , | 4 comments

4 Comments so far.

  1. Just a quick comment on the walls on Binnion Hill. As in many other locations in ireland, during the Famine in the 1850s landlords were responsible for the welfare of their tenants. Many would not provide food-aid when needed but introduced ‘relief work’ where tenants could work for food. These walls are one of those ridiculous and useless work schemes by the local landlord – forcing poverty stricken and hungry people to work for enough to feed themselves. A lot of history in these walls!!
    patsy

  2. patsy toland on April 22nd, 2012 at 11:40 am
  3. Thanks for the info Patsy, I’ve always wanted to know why they were built!
    Steven

  4. Steven on April 22nd, 2012 at 3:15 pm
  5. Looks like I will have to venture on this walk next year πŸ™‚

  6. elizabeth holder on April 25th, 2012 at 3:58 pm
  7. With a surname like mine I will have to come and see this.

  8. Colin Binnion on December 29th, 2012 at 9:55 am

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