Carrickfinn Beach narrowly beat Portsalon in an online poll on the Donegal News social network sites.
BY SEÁN P. FEENY
WITH two beautiful days in a row last week being a sign that summer might finally here and Donegal being announced as having the most blue flag beaches in the country, we asked our social network followers to tell us their favourite beaches.
Over 70 people participated in our online poll on Facebook and Twitter pages and the result is in – the beach with the highest vote was Carrickfinn in the Lower Rosses.
Carrickfinn is an extensive sandy beach with a good dune system situated just walking distance from Donegal International Airport off the R266 near Annagry.
blueflag.org writes ‘Carrickfinn is situated in Gweedore Bay which is a Natural Heritage Area with many varied coastal habitats. There are extensive machair grasslands and the area is noted for the presence of rare plant species.’
Carrickfinn will also be the setting for one of the highlights of this year’s Earagail Arts Festival, the Clannad Altan double bill.
The second most popular beach was Portsalon, which in comparison to Carrickfinn, tends to be much more populated during the summer.
blueflag.org says it’s ‘a very extensive sandy beach on the shores of Lough Swilly. It gently slopes towards the Atlantic ocean and is located in a Natural Heritage Area. The beach at Portsalon can be reached by travelling north east in the R246 from Carrowkeel to Portsalon.’
Other beaches who received a lot of votes included Fintra, Killahoey, Tramore, Rossnowlagh, Falcarragh’s Backstrand and many other local beaches were voted for by proud locals.
Of course, this was not an official poll and conducted for fun and the votes only reflected how many beautiful and popular beaches we have actually here in this beautiful county.
It is no surprise that Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government Phil Hogan TD congratulated the county on having the has the highest number of Blue Flag beaches in Ireland – an impressive 13 beaches.
So when ever you get the opportunity to, make sure you enjoy the beautiful beaches Donegal boasts ALL over the county. Dún na nGall Abú!
Follow all the latest from the Donegal News on Facebook or Twitter
DID YOU KNOW? Donegal superband T With The Maggies, feat. Moya Brennan, Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh, Tríona and Maighread Ní Dhomhnaill filmed the video to Stór, A Stór, A Ghrá on Carrickfinn Beach. (See the video below).