25. Donegal - Glenveagh National Park

As a national park, while it might not be our largest (the Wicklow Mountains) or smallest (the Burren), our wettest (Connemara) or even our most renowned (Killarney), Glenveagh National Park is certainly one of our most beautiful.

Set over 170 square kilometres of remarkably wild Irish countryside, Glenveagh is a wonderful place to wander around, trekking any of its umpteen walks from the Derrylahan Nature Trail to the Lough Inshagh Walk, the Lakeside Track to the famed and fabulous Bridle Path to choose from. With as much chance of catching a glimpse of a red deer or a golden eagle as you do of being bombarded by midges as big as your fist, Glenveagh National Park is real slice of adventure in a ‘paradiscally’ untamed corner of Ireland. (And yes, I made that word up.)

Perhaps the most awe-inspiring chunk of Glenveagh is where it extends into the ice-carved corrie (hollow) infamously known as the Poisoned Glen. Like a setting for a high fantasy movie, the Glen sits at the foot of a real mountain-lovers’ mountain, Mount Errigal. With the eye-catching Old Church of Dunlewey also holding court here, hewn from locally-sourced white marble and blue quartzite, it is no wonder that the whole area is one of the most treasured spots in Donegal.

But why then is such an awe-inspiring location named the Poisoned Glen? Thankfully, it’s not the result of a disastrous oil spillage here but is instead attributed to two possible events.

The first is the legendary murder of Balor of the Evil Eye, that ancient one-eyed giant king of Tory, by his grandson, Lugh. Balor’s Evil Eye was so destructive it had to be covered by seven curtains and, when revealed, would set the whole land alight, making him the least popular guest at a birthday party ever. Legend has it that during the Battle of Mag Tuired, Lugh threw a spear or a sling or a scissors or another of those things your mother is always warning you not to run with, and it hit Balor square in the eye. It killed him, but not before he first spun round in pain, setting fire to his own army (hate that) before collapsing onto the ground, Evil Eye still open, splitting a rock and poisoning the glen forever! Forever! Foreverrrr!!!

Then there is the second story, that locals wanted to call the place An Gleann Neamhe, meaning ‘The Heavenly Glen’, but the English cartographer in charge of the process replaced the ‘a’ with an ‘i’, An Gleann Nimhe, meaning ‘The Poisoned Glen’. Twat.

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