Ireland trad meet 2026 - 6-13 June

Trips & Meets
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Sorry it’s taken a while to share more details on this trip: the new edition of the guidebook for Donegal (the previous one is out of print), was due to be published in January, then February, and still hasn’t arrived. Needle Sports, Outside, and Cordee (the distributor) will let you sign up for a notification when it’s available.

However, there’s enough info online on Iain Miller’s website here to get started organising things; you might recognise him from the film ‘A feather in the west’ about new routing on Owey island which came out a couple of years ago A Rock Climbing guide of Donegal

The plan: a week of climbing on perfect, sea-washed granite on the coastal crags and islands of Donegal, plus good pubs and some of the best seafood going.

Transport: This trip really needs decent numbers of drivers to work, as crags and villages/shops along the coast are quite spread out. My plan is to fly to Derry then hire a car; the alternative is to get a ferry then then drive up (Birkenhead to Belfast, or stay at the hut then Holyhead to Dublin and a longer drive), but this is both time-consuming and expensive.

Accommodation: Campsites are few and far between, but I’ll add a couple of options here ASAP.

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James, I have requested edit access to the spreadsheet, so that I can add myself to the sheet.

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Thanks Peter, have updated the permissions so should be editable for everyone now

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Thanks James: sorted.

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Thanks for setting this up @James_Archer! Did you have any ideas for accommodation? The campsites that have come up online so far are all 35-40 euros per night, at which point it’s comparable to renting something on Airbnb or similar.

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This place looks like a reasonable base for accessing the Islands, including Gola and Cruit? (16euros/night plus 3euros car)

And if we wanted to decamp to a southern base at some point, this looks to be c.22euros/night:

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https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/destinations/donegal-11171 - who else wants to come? It sounds like a great place.

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For interest, driving (from Sheffield) looks cheaper than flying, which is not what I expected. Per person based on 2 people sharing a car:

  • Ferry £200 (Liverpool to Belfast). Also need European breakdown cover mind you.
  • EasyJet Manchester-Belfast + hire car £260 (for a £185 flight + 23 Kg hold bag + cabin bag, small car)
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I’m in. Looks like a nice easy trip to remember how to trad climb……

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Is that the overnight ferry? London-Belfast flight prices look slightly cheaper, but not much.

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Thanks for sharing campsite options @RolandP - these were the ones I found as well, emailed them both last week so will update when I hear back. I’ve also reached out to Cordee and Iain Miller to ask about the guidebook publication date as still haven’t been able to track down a copy of the out of print one

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@dabarlow, aside from cost, wouldn’t driving take significantly longer to arrive, compared to flying & car renting?

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Liverpool is only 2 hour=s from Sheffield and the ferry leaves at 11am on Saturday, arriving at 19:00. So it will take longer, but you probably wouldn’t have time to climb on Saturday even if you fly.

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Is there an overnight option with a cabin? That was fun when we went to Fairhead.

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Yes:

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If we were to go overnight, we’d go on the Friday night right?

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I’m considering either flying Ryanair to Knock and hiring a car, or getting the Holyhead-Dublin ferry, with overnights at the cottage.

Flying option: Luton-Knock 14.50 6 Jun, Knock-Luton 16.05. Cost for one person with hold and cabin bag and car hire approx £260 (should come in below £200pp if sharing car hire)

Ferry option: 13.15 ferry Holyhead-Dublin on Sat 6th, coming back 13.45 on Sat 13th. Cost for one person excl. fuel £435 (£217.50pp based on two sharing)

In the ferry option I’d propose to stay a night at the cottage on the way out (and possibly the way back).

Anyone interested in coordinating on either version?

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That would be my choice

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In the ferry option I imagine we could do better than 2 people per car which would bring down the cost

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What about taking the Friday 22.30hrs ferry from Liverpool, arriving at Belfast 06.30hrs; then a 2hr drive to Donegal; thereby getting a full day’s climbing on the Saturday? Would obviously necessitate getting away from London smartish Friday afternoon and I don’t know what the ferry’s sleeping arrangements are….