Gola Island is somewhere that I’d have liked to have climbed a few years ago when Clare and I spent the summer travelled around the west coast of Ireland. At the time, we never made it this far north, so it was great today to finally be making the short (about 15minutes and for €15.00 return), ferry across from the mainland, although this time with some students on a rock climbing climbing expedition.
There are a few houses on the island and surprisingly a couple of vehicles too, but not much else in the way of infrastructure. There is a water tap at the pier and a little shop, but otherwise that’s about it - apart from the beauty, bird life, flowers, peat bogs, beach and of course, rock climbing! The sign at the pier, where we stashed our buoyancy aids said stick to the paths, which we did. But it didn’t look like anyone had walked them recently. Thankfully the dry weather meant the ground was dusty and dry; in different conditions, wellies might be the best footwear!
We marched across to the western side of the island, to find our chosen cliffs. You can wild camp by this beach, but we chose to just go for the day on this occasion.
As is usual/prudent with sea cliff climbing in a new area, we spent a few minutes making sure we were at the top of the correct section of cliff before abseiling over the edge!
We had plenty of gear and ropes with us for an exciting abseil and then made a team ascent of one of the best routes on the island, called Pride of Gola.
Top notch granite, well protected and great ambiance.
The route climbs the arête in the right below me and John in the photo below:
Just north of here, only a few hundred meters away was the inland crag, which, without the need to abseil in, meant we could climb a few more routes before needing to get back to catch the ferry home.
Once we’d worn everyone out (including ourselves as instructors), we returned across the island, reaching the ferry pier with 10minutes to relax by the waters edge before it arrived.
The water really was crystal clear.
I was pretty keen for an afternoon swim, but it was about 18:30 by the time we were back on the mainland, so we headed back to base, via some narrow roads to get dinner on!
At least the road was not as narrow as on yesterday’s adventure, which was only just minibus width!
Gola Island Climbs:
- Pride of Gola, HS, (4a)***
- Bens Corner, Diff***
- Tasty Morsel, HVS, (5a)***
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