The Knockalla ridge runs about 6km down the west side of Donegal’s Fanad peninsula, and from the top you look straight across Lough Swilly to Fort Dunree and out to Fanad Head. Locals call it the Devil’s Backbone – Cnoc Colbha means ‘the hill of the ledge’ – for the jagged quartzite humps that make the descents as hard on the legs as the climbs. It tops out at 363m (1,191ft), which sounds modest, but one well-known Donegal hill-walking guide rates this his single favourite route in the county, and on a clear day it’s easy to see why.
The walks
There are really three ways to take it on.
The full traverse, the Devil’s Backbone proper, is a point-to-point of about 6km from the Shanky lay-by north of Kerrykeel to the viewpoint above Warden Beach at Ballymastocker Bay. Allow 3.5 to 4 hours and around 363m of ascent. It’s the best of the three and the most committing: because it finishes miles from where it starts, you’ll want two cars or a lift arranged at the far end.
If you’d rather come back to the car, an 8.37km loop from Shanky climbs over the summit and its two small lakes and returns to the lay-by – roughly 4.5 hours and 338m of ascent.
For a short leg-stretch, a brief out-and-back from the car park by the Knockalla Crosses climbs a grass track to a cairned top in an hour or so. It’s the family option, though even this one wants proper boots.
Knockalla Fort
Look down from the ridge and you can pick out Knockalla Fort on the shore below: a squat gun battery built around 1798 to stop a French fleet coming up Lough Swilly, part of the same invasion scare that ringed the lough with defences. It’s one of the things that holds the eye on the walk – you’re not just looking at scenery, but at the bones of Ireland’s coastal defences laid out beneath you.
The caravan park
Between the slopes and the strand at Ballymastocker Bay sits Knockalla Caravan & Camping Park, a 4-star Fáilte Ireland-registered site with a heated toilet block, a campers’ kitchen, laundry, a small shop and café, a bar and a playground. It’s a genuinely good base for pairing a ridge walk with a beach afternoon. It runs seasonally, though, so check the dates at knockallacaravanpark.com before you build a trip around it.
Getting there
From Letterkenny, take the R245 to Ramelton, carry on to Milford, then turn right onto the R246 for Kerrykeel. In Kerrykeel head left for Portsalon, and at the second crossroads turn right onto the Knockalla coast road. Both the Shanky lay-by and the car park by the Knockalla Crosses are free.
One word of caution before you set off. The ridge is unmarked, boggy underfoot and steep in places – this is mountain terrain, not a waymarked loop. Bring full boots, poles and a map you can read without a signal, and save it for clear, not-too-windy weather. The undulations that make the views also make the descents genuinely tricky when the heather is wet.
Nearby
- Portsalon – the harbour village at the foot of the beach, with a café or two and direct access to the strand.
- Fanad Head Lighthouse – out at the tip of the peninsula, with a visitor centre and clifftop views.
- Fort Dunree – the fort you can see across the water is on the Inishowen side of Lough Swilly, a long drive round by road, but its maritime museum and bird hides are worth it if you’re circling the lough.