Slieve League or Slieve Liag () is a mountain on the
Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...
coast of
County Donegal
County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconn ...
,
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
. At , it has the second-highest sea cliffs in
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
after
Croaghaun, and some of the highest sea cliffs in Europe.
The
Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingd ...
naturalist Robert Lloyd Praeger
Robert Lloyd Praeger (25 August 1865 – 5 May 1953) was an Irish naturalist, writer and librarian.
Biography
From a Unitarian background, he was born and raised in Holywood, County Down. He attended the school of the Reverend McAlister a ...
wrote in 1939:
A tall mountain of nearly 2000 feet, precipitous on its northern side, has been devoured by the sea till the southern face forms a precipice likewise, descending on this side right into the Atlantic from the long knife-edge which forms the summit. The traverse of this ridge, the "One Man's Path", is one of the most remarkable walks to be found in Ireland - not actually dangerous, but needing a good head and careful progress on a stormy day....The northern precipice, which drops 1500 feet into the coomb surrounding the Little Lough Agh, harbours the majority of the alpine plants of Slieve League, the most varied group of alpines to be found anywhere in Donegal.[Praeger, Robert Lloyd (1997). ''The way that I went: an Irishman in Ireland''. Cork: Collins Press, p. 41. .]
Slieve League is often photographed from a viewpoint known as Bunglass. It can be reached by means of a narrow road that departs from
Teelin
''Teileann'' (an Irish word meaning 'Dish'; anglicised as Teelin Patrick McKay, ''A Dictionary of Ulster Place-Names'', p. 140. The Institute of Irish Studies, The Queen's University of Belfast, Belfast, 1999.) is a ''Gaeltacht'' village in the ...
. The final few kilometers of this route is built along a precipice and includes several places where it turns at the crest of a rise.
Image gallery
File:Slieve League (15919171422).jpg, Slieve League panorama
Image:Slieve League eastern end County Donegal.JPG, Slieve League's eastern end
Image:Slieve League 122012.JPG, Extended view of the eastern end of Slieve League
Image:Onemanspath.jpg, One Man's Path
Image:Slieve_League8.jpg, Looking down
File:SlieveLeague1.jpg, Across the top
File:Europeancliffs.svg, Comparison of cliffs in Europe
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:League, Slieve
Mountains and hills of County Donegal
Cliffs of Ireland
Protected areas of County Donegal
Gaeltacht places in County Donegal
Marilyns of Ireland