Erris Head Loop Walk

Erris Head is the northernmost point of the Mullet Peninsula, a narrow finger of land extending north from Belmullet into Blacksod Bay. The 7 km loop walk follows cliff paths and rough coastal track around the headland, with the Atlantic on three sides and a perspective that on clear days extends north to the Donegal coast and west over open ocean. This is the Ireland that the tourist trail largely misses — remote, wind-stripped, and elemental.

The walk takes 2–3 hours at a comfortable pace. The path is unmarked in places and the terrain can be wet; waterproof boots are essential. Parking is at the end of a narrow lane at Portacloy or at the headland itself. Sheep graze the clifftop grass, and the cliffs are home to nesting seabirds including fulmars and kittiwakes in spring and summer. The lack of visitor infrastructure is the point — you will almost certainly have the headland to yourself outside summer weekends.

Erris Head is most rewarding as part of a day exploring the Belmullet peninsula. Blacksod Lighthouse, Belmullet town, and the tidal pool at the southern end of the peninsula are all within 20 km. The surrounding landscape of the Erris boglands — vast, flat, treeless — is unlike anywhere else in Ireland and has a bleak beauty that takes some time to settle into.