Coastal Walks in Ballyliffin and Where Hunger Always Leads You

I’ve done most of my thinking on a walk.

Not the neat, mindful Instagram kind - REAL walks, with wind in your face and thoughts you can’t escape. Ballyliffin has a way of stripping life back to basics. You walk. You breathe. You get hungry. And eventually, you find your way back to food.

Pollan Bay: Where the Sea Does the Talking

Image Credit - Reel-Ality Media

Pollan Bay is quiet in that Donegal way quiet, but never empty. The sea is always saying something. I’ve walked here after long shifts, after arguments, after big decisions, and sometimes just to remind myself why I stayed in this business. You walk until your head clears. Then you walk back until your stomach growls.

Glenevin Waterfall: A Soft Place in a Hard County

Image Credit - Gareth Wray

Donegal is tough. The land, the weather, the people we don’t do soft easily. Glenevin is different. It’s gentle. Trees, water, quiet. It’s where you go when you need a kinder kind of wild.

Malin Head & Five Finger Strand: Drama Therapy

If you want to feel small in a good way go to Malin Head. Stand on the cliffs. Let the Atlantic shout over whatever’s in your head. It’s better than therapy. And cheaper.

Image Credit - Reel-Ality Media

Where Food Fits In…

After a walk, food hits differently. Soup tastes better. The Chowder tastes like survival. A sandwich tastes like comfort. That’s why Nancy’s Barn exists to be the place you end up when the walk turns into hunger, and hunger turns into stories.

Image Credit - Reel-Ality Media

Chef’s Memory

I once walked from Ballyliffin to Malin Head after a brutal week in a city kitchen. Came back, sat alone, ate soup, and decided to come home for good.

Kieran, Nancy’s Barn