Wild Camping Donegal | The Devil's Backbone
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- čas přidán 24. 02. 2024
- A wild camp at Knockalla Loughs on the Knockalla Ridge (Devil's Backbone) in Donegal. Starting at the world class beaches of Ballymastocker Bay (Portsalon) and climbing from sea level onto the ridge. A wonderful undulating walk, reaching the loughs just before sunset. A wet night with not quite the right camp gear lead to an uncomfortable sleep, though at times it was wondrous to look up at a sky of stars and a bright half moon overhead. More of the ridge the next morning before dropping down and following a lovely quiet road back towards the start and climbing back on the ridge via the Way of the Cross to an open air church site high on the hill. Then a final drop back down to the crashing waves and the beaches.
Knockalla Mountain (363m)
mountainviews.ie/summit/884/
Ballymastocker Bay
www.thebeachguide.co.uk/repub...
Oudoor active (track recreated)
www.outdooractive.com/en/rout...
Absolutely stunning Gerry. Planning a few days in Donegal camping during the summer. Absolutely stunning. Those loughs are now on my list to camp at. Thanks for filming. Great to see this stunning area.
Cheers Martin👍 I have no doubt that will be a good trip - Donegal rarely disappoints👍 Though the midges🦟 like it too😊
The coastline of Ireland is wonderful! A beautiful start to your wild camp, seeing the rolling waves and surfers enjoying the ocean! The Devil’s Backbone is a great name for the ridge. Outstanding views along the way… beautiful to looks down on the lochs. Very nice to have your camping spot next to the water, too bad it rained so much overnight. I haven’t camped in a bivvy before- sounds great to be able to look up to the stars and moon in the middle of the night. Great trip, so nice you can get out in February! Cute cows and an adorable horse! 👌👍👍 - Jen
Jennifer, It is a wonderful coastline as is yours up in Washington State👍 That beach is absolutely beautiful and I had to return after many years to appreciate that👍 There is nothing better than lying in a bivy and staring straight up a t a sky full of stars🌟 The weather her has been very unsettled (from last summer) with no real settled period - hopefully that will change as we move into Spring☀😊
@@gerrymcveigh I hope so!! 😄
What beautiful loughs to camp next to Gerry! They certainly looked good from up above and when you were down next to them. Fair play to you to bivy with rain expected and then to come through with a smile and good memories to tell the tale! Such a great name - the Devils Backbone 😎 No doubt your gear has dried off well and you’re already planning for the next trip!! 🤗
Miriam, one of those places that stick in your mind and call out every now and again to see if you are listening😊 It was a great we trip and the night wasn't too bad, just a bit uncomfortable - more than made up for though when the sky was clear and I was able to stare up at the stars with the waters of the lough lapping away beside me👍 Always good to be thinking of another adventure and I hope you have the same opportunity.
Great video Gerry, you captured so much there, a snapshot of rural Ireland with the bit of farming and church etc too. We had a quick visit to those two tops a number of years ago and the lakes were truly memorable.
Cheers Patrick👍 Knockalla is a lovely ridge walk and my visit all those years ago has stayed with me and brought this return to wild camp. Camping at the loughs was great and I wouldn't have changed much even though I got wet in the bivy🌨😊 The walk back along the quiet country roads was really cool too.
Hi Gerry, nicely captured footage of your trip. What a lovely spot !! sea, mountains and some lovely lakes. A nice place to have an uncomfortable nights sleep 😅. It's good to see the bit of stretch in the evenings. Something to look forward to. All the best 👍
Andrew, it was the coolest of places to have an uncomfortable nights sleep😊 It all would have been grand with the right bivy though those are the breaks. Knockalla is a superb ridge stretching from coast to coast and is aptly named as the devil's Backbone👍 It is great to see it lighter (both morning and evening) now all we need is some heat🔥😊
Mighty stuff Gerry, enjoyed watching and I now have another excuse to visit Donegal!
Cheers👍 There are lots of excuses to visit Donegal😊
Nice video mate as usual very atmospheric great views looks a good hike
Cheers Andrew👍 It was a cool wee micro adventure😊
Excellent video as always Gerry 🏖 🏔 ⛺️
Cheers😊 It was a great wee trip even though the weather wasn't brilliant. I could have spent all day at the beach at Portsalon - absolutely stunning.
@@gerrymcveigh Portsalon has a great beach. I spent part of my 40th birthday walking along it 😊
Another great Adventure Gerry your fairly getting around Donegal. I'm definitely jealous can't wait to get back to Donegal myself love it there. Lucky you had that beach almost to yourself very relaxing looking. That cave looks like a good place to camp although I'd be afraid of the sea water coming in to it in the middle of the night 😂
Cheers Adrain👍 I love Donegal too and it has so much to offer for walking and wild camping. I am finding myself revisiting places in Donegal I have walked in the past with a view to wild camping. That was the case with those cool loughs at Knockalla and definitely worth the return😊 I had enough water coming in without even more in that cave😊
Will we ever get a good spell of sunny weather Gerry? Autumn, Winter and now Spring have been very poor. So cold, overcast and wet! You must watch the weather forecast very closely to manage to get these wee short sunshine breaks! lol Oh dear you did get a fair bit of sleeping rain!!!!!
Wow you are brave Gerry! No tent!!!! Aaaaah!
I hope you said a few prayers there with your tea Gerry!!!! I like that outdoor idea.
You take care!
Best wishes from the Belfast Castlereagh hills.
Tom, no end in sight unfortunately. I can't remember as long a time when we haven't had a least a week of settled and sunny weather (since last July). It can be difficult to get that wee window for camping, especially higher up when the effects of the wind and rain are multiplied, though I do keep and eye out😊
I find it very interesting that you agree Gerry. I too have never known it so bad for lack of prolonged sunshine. You are a man who really needs to know about what weather is coming along. So I really respect what you are saying. This means quite a lot for people here. They will be getting little vitamin D from the sun and the incidence of SAD will be a lot higher. And yet the media or our medical people have not picked up on this!
Beautiful area 🧡 absolutely even with not great sleep its always well worth it to be in the hills. Really enjoying your content as i cant go out really currently. Yes every day is a school day 😊 See you on the trail Gerry
Always worth the effort to get out on the hills👍 It isn't that often that everything goes according to plan so always that room for learning😊 I hope your current situation changes and you get out more again soon👍
@@gerrymcveigh that's it we make it perfect by enjoying it 😊 thank you Gerry 🙏🧡
A full happy view gerry. Just quick I enjoyed the pace and space and hey the bivvy in the wrong bivvy bag. U get how beautiful it all was. I trust you're well out there. All the best. Mark
Cheers Mark👍 It was a good wee trip even with the bivy slip up and uncomfortable night in the rain - the experiences that stay with you! All good here as I hope it is over there👍
@@gerrymcveigh A pleasure as always gerry. Yes, mate the experiences are what makes the memory-you can hack it. Good to hear your well. Me? Injury is getting stronger - I'm excited.
Gerry, Always, always enjoy your videos. You never fail to be of good cheer, regardless of the conditions. Please know that you are an inspiration to me and so many others. Thank you for taking us along on your adventures .... well, we get to stay dry. 🙂
Cheers Kriss , appreciate your very kind comments👍 Even though my sleeping mat and sleeping bag were wet I managed to stay pretty dry. It was a nightmare trying to hold the bivy bag closed when it was raining - the bigger Alpkit Hunka XL would have kept the rain out. You can't learn unless you make mistakes😊
Hi Gerry - great to see you commit to the bivvy, even if it was a bit uncomfortable this time! I bought a Hunka XL bivvy last year but I haven't been out in it yet. A few micro-adventures will follow this year, I hope, starting on my home patch of Dartmoor. A beautiful spot there at the loughs to wake up to and for your morning cup of tea. And so nice to be able to bookend the walk with a stroll on that incredible beach.
The bivy is my first choice if the weather and midges are favourable. It just has that connection with the surroundings that being enclosed in a tent doesn't - there is nothing cooler than lying looking directly up at the stars. It also allows you to camp in places a tent just wouldn't work and I am sure that will open up other opportunities in Dartmoor😊 The beach was stunning and I could just imaging falling off to sleep with those waves crashing😊
That is a lovely spot and so deserted! Really enjoyed it Gerry and looking forward to what you have planned 👍🏻
Cheers Paul👍 I have been hankering to go back there with memories of my last trip many years ago and it did not disappoint. Hard to beat camping by a lough up in the hills and that will probably feature in my plans😊
Beautiful part of the world Gerry. Never owned a bivvy - not rushing out to get one now! lol... atb Sinco
Sinco, it is a stunning place👍 You just need to rush out and get the right bivy😊
Nice video Gerry. Havnt seen you post for a while and was getting worried that you might be spending the nights in hotels or b&b's on your hiking trips 🤣🤣
Cheers Alan😊 It has been a month since the last trip I filmed and that is mostly down to the weather which is still so unsettled. You wouldn't catch me in a hotel😊
Perfect for a Sunday evening Gerry, nice and relaxed as always 👌 only thing now is that I’m craving a camp even more. I laughed at the user friendly line 😂. Can’t wait to see over the next few months, good luck.
Cheers Geoff👍 That ground up from the beach was tough going though it was good to give it a go😊 Hopefully the weather will play ball - can't remember the last time we had a good settled spell☀
Gerry, as always, love your videos! Your confidence and expertise in travelling to, and navigating these different areas is awe inspiring. You truely are an inspiration to me, and many! Thankyou for taking us along on your adventure!
Cheers Siobhan👍 Appreciate your very generous comments👍 I still make plenty of mistakes which is all part of the continual learning process. it was great to go back to a place I visited many years ago and to have that confidence to wild camp (which I wouldn't have had all those years ago).
Stunning Donegal as always. Bummer about getting wet in bivvy but you can laugh about it!! Great video!!
Cheers👍 All was good at the end of the trip and I can sure take a wee bit of damp and the learning that came with it - those are the trips that are more memorable - whether it is holding the bivy closed over your head from rain🌨or midges🦟 Donegal is always a winner😊
Your videos always make me feel like I'm walking along with you. Very much needed these days, so thanks a mill for this one Gerry. Beautiful shots as always, I didn't fancy the look of that bivy when I saw it the next morning but from what you said about watching the night sky it has made me want to try it again this year.
I know that I asked before and Im pretty sure I am remebering correctly, but are your boots Scarpa Terra? If so, how do you find them up on the mountains?
Hopefully you managed to have them resoled that time
Cheers Jason👍 That is cool that you have a sense of walking alongside. If I had brought the right size bivy it would all have been grand and I would have stayed warm and dry😊 The boots are Scarpa Terra and they are a new pair (still have the ones with the flapping sole) and are just perfect for me. They are pretty light and have the durability of leather - I have had lightweight fabric boots before that have disintegrated after a few months - bought these on the back of how good the other pair were. Never had a bother with them in all sorts of weather and terrain, though I am looking after them well - cleaning and waxing after each trip👍
@gerrymcveigh yeah, I thought you had bought a new bivy until I realised it was the old hunka. Thanks a mill Gerry, I'm trying to find a lighter pair for longer hikes. I reckon I'll be going with the Terra's. From seeing all the big hikes that you do and the experience you've had, I really valued your opinion on them 👍
note to self: always take a tent.
It is good to be brave now and again😊 especially if you bring the correct bivy😊
New hat? 😊
I have splashed out on several new hats😊 I do wear them everyday until they fall apart so get my money out of them😊
Brilliant, always good to watch the vids