The Fairy Bridges and the Wishing Chair
About
Bundoran's original visitor attraction, and still free. The Fairy Bridges are natural sea arches and blowholes in the cliff above Tullan Strand, where the Atlantic surges in underneath you; locals were calling them haunted by fairies as far back as the 1700s, which is where the name comes from. A few metres away is the Wishing Chair, a seat-shaped rock that the town will tell you has held the poet William Allingham, the golfer Christy O'Connor and the surfer Kelly Slater, among others. There is a ritual, and the people who run the Fairy Bridges website take it seriously: sit down slowly holding both arms of the chair, look out for at least fifteen seconds at Donegal Bay on your left, Tullan Strand ahead and the Dartry Mountains on your right, make the wish in silence, and tap the seat twice as you stand up. The cliffs also hold the memorial to the crew of a Halifax aircraft that crashed here in January 1944. The arches are open cliff, so keep children close and stay back from the edges.
Photos
Highlights
- ✓Sea arches with the Atlantic surging underneath
- ✓The Wishing Chair and its tap-twice ritual
- ✓Memorial to the 1944 Halifax crash
- ✓Wide views over Tullan Strand, Donegal Bay and back to Mullaghmore
Tips
- →The arches are at their most dramatic on a big swell at high tide; stand well back.
- →Walk out along the Rougey Walk from the main beach rather than driving; the Tullan Strand car park is a few minutes away if you need it.
- →Bundoran Tidy Towns asks walkers to pick up after their dogs; bags and bins are along the walk.