Gleniff Horseshoe

I have been seeing signs to Gleniff Horseshoe whenever I would drive past county Sligo. I always wondered what it was. However, I got lost looking for it the first time. This is not for lack of trying. After that first sign by the main road, there were no more signs to be found to point you to the place. It is a pity because most other places in Ireland are very well sign posted so you can easily find places even if you don’t have a satnav. I have learned to pre-save the map because mobile signal is bad in these parts. Can’t say I blame them since there are hardly any people living here.

Walking Path to the Gleniff Horseshoe

Anyway, I managed to find the place. Like a lot of places in Ireland, the Gleniff Horseshoe is officially called a glacial valley. This means that the area was carved out by the movement of ice during the last ice age. What remains is what is now the Dartry mountains. The mountains have basically the same features as nearby Benbulben mountain. In particular, they have very steep slopes especially when it comes to the top. There are parts where it is almost vertical so climbing these mountains can be very challenging. There are also caves here, though I didn’t get to see them. Because of the steepness of the slopes, it is not recommended that people climb the slopes else you might need to be rescued, or worse.

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