At the Foot of Inch Castle
This isn’t my first visit to Inch Island. I was here a few weeks earlier looking for Inch Castle. Unfortunately, Google Maps only knows where it is but it can’t tell me how to actually get there. I came back a few weeks later to find the castle again. This time was much better. The castle is primarily accessed by following the beach along the coast. The beach here isn’t the prettiest as it is littered with countless seaweed. I think it is also best that the visit be done when the tide is low or doing down so as to avoid a situation where the trail would be unusable because it would get flooded. I don’t know if that is really the case but better safe than sorry.
Closer Look at Inch Castle
The trail follows the shore of Inch Island. The island itself is on the Lough Swilly. The waves here are very mild as it is protected from the power of the Atlantic. Having said that, you can still see the power of erosion here as a lot of the rocks here show wear and tear from centuries of erosion. The trail has several bends and I would keep thinking that the castle is just at the next bend when it wasn’t. Eventually, I did make it there. Inch Castle, as you might expect, is already in a state of ruin. The castle was built in 1430 by the O’Donnells who were the prominent clan in this area. It seems that the castle forms part of a defensive network to keep other tribes at bay. It would be fun to try find the other components of this defensive network.
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