Day 1. 
. Let’s go.
You’re standing at a crossroads at the edge of Ireland.
Not metaphorically — literally. Falcarragh, or An Fál Carrach in Irish, takes its English name from a stone boundary wall, but locals still call it Na Crois Bhealaí: the crossroads. A market town, a fishing community, a Gaeltacht village where 70% of residents speak Irish and about a third do it every single day. The signs here are in Irish first. The conversations in the shop might be too.
This is where your MayDaily challenge begins.
Over the next 31 days, you’ll cover 155km across one of the most dramatic stretches of coastline in Europe — the Donegal Wild Atlantic Way. From this crossroads in the Gaeltacht north, you’ll track south through the Rosses, past island-dotted bays, across remote headlands, down into ancient glens, and finish on the edge of one of Europe’s highest sea cliffs.
Every 5km you log on Your Virtual Race moves you forward on this route. Every day you complete your five tasks — the walk or run, the cold shower, the reading, the clean eating, the daily post — you move a little further south along this coast.
Five quick facts about where you’re starting:
- The tallest Celtic cross in Ireland stands near Falcarragh — it was said to have been carried from Muckish Mountain by St. Colm Cille himself as a gift to a local monk.
- The name An Fál Carrach literally means “the rugged/rough wall” — an unlikely name for a place where the wind has flattened every hedge in sight.
- Just outside town is the Bridge of Tears — the point where families said goodbye to loved ones emigrating. The emigrants walked on to Derry Port. Those left behind turned back.
- Falcarragh railway station opened in 1903, closed for passengers in 1940, and was gone entirely by 1947. Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie filmed nearby in 1992.
- Two miles offshore sits Tory Island — mythological stronghold of Balor of the Evil Eye, the one-eyed king of the Fomorians. We’ll come back to that.
The myth that starts here
The landscape around Falcarragh is Balor country. Balor of the Evil Eye — Balór na Súile Nimhe — was the fearsome king of the Fomorians, a dark race who terrorised Ireland from their fortress on Tory Island, visible from this very shoreline. His single eye had the power to kill everything it looked upon. It took four men to lift the eyelid. A prophecy told that Balor would be killed by his own grandson. So he locked his daughter Eithne in a tower on Tory to prevent it. It didn’t work. His grandson Lugh was born anyway, and eventually drove a blazing spear through Balor’s evil eye, defeating the Fomorians at the second Battle of Moytura. Some say the poison that poured from Balor’s eye formed a lake in County Donegal. Others say it burned a scar into the earth that became Gleann Nimhe — the Poison Glen. Either way, this coastline carries ancient darkness in it, and Lugh’s light won.
Think of it as your challenge’s origin myth. You’re walking south, into the light.
Your route at a glance:
Start ? Falcarragh ? Meenalough ? Kincasslagh ? Burtonport ? Crohy Head ? Portnoo & Rossbeg ? Assaranca Waterfall ? Glencolumbkille ? Slieve League Viewing Platform
CTA: Log your first walk or run on Your Virtual Race and start moving south. Your first waypoint is Meenalough.
You made it. You’re standing on the edge of Europe.
Look up.
You’ve walked, run, and moved your way 155km down the Wild Atlantic Way from Falcarragh to here. And here is something.
Sliabh Liag — 
— rises 601 metres from the Atlantic Ocean. Nearly three times the height of the Cliffs of Moher. Almost twice the height of the Eiffel Tower. Among the highest accessible sea cliffs in Europe. The rocks beneath your feet are 300 million years old — Dalradian metamorphic rock, formed before animal life existed on Earth. The view from this platform takes in Donegal Bay, the Sligo mountains, the Mayo coast, and beyond. To the northwest you can see Rathlin O’Birne Island and the coastline of Glencolumbkille where you were just days ago.
Early Christian monks built a hermitage at the top of this mountain. They established a chapel, a holy well, and beehive huts on a cliffside that drops sheer into the Atlantic because they wanted to pray somewhere that felt close to the edge of everything. The Pilgrim’s Path has been walked for over 1,000 years. During the Penal Laws, Mass was said in secret at a mass-rock along the path. A Napoleonic signal tower watched for French ships from these heights. And during WWII, a stone ÉIRE sign was placed near the summit to mark Irish neutral airspace — visible right now, partially overgrown, next to the viewing platform.
This cliff has been witnessing things for longer than most human stories last.
What you covered:
From Falcarragh — crossroads of the Gaeltacht, birthplace of your challenge, where Balor’s fortress on Tory Island was visible on the horizon.
Through Meenalough — into the Rosses, the bog, the flat Atlantic light of a landscape that has preserved everything it’s ever been given.
Past Kincasslagh — 40 people, 10 million records, one extraordinary career built from a £1,200 single and a village that never forgot him.
Into Burtonport — the harbour that outlasted the herring, the gateway to Arranmore, the port from which generations of islanders left and sometimes never returned.
Across Crohy Head — the prehistoric sea arch, unchanged for millions of years, a window into the coast before any of us existed.
Along Portnoo and Rossbeg — the golden beaches backed by dunes, the Armada coast, the 1,000 acres of wildflower marsh that nobody outside Donegal knows about.
Stopping at Assaranca — where the mountain water falls 30 metres into a pool beside the road, and everything pauses.
Through Glencolumbkille — the sacred glen, 6,000 years of pilgrimage, a village that refused to disappear.
And now here.
You finished MayDaily.
Thirty-one days. Five daily tasks. 155km logged across one of the wildest stretches of coast in Europe.
That’s your certificate of completion. That’s your digital medal. And that’s the proof — logged on Your Virtual Race, step by step — that you showed up.
Collect your finisher certificate and digital medal through the link below. As a MayDaily finisher, you’re also entitled to 10% off the MayDaily merch shop.
And share where you finished. People will want to know.
