Seniors Trek Over To Malin Head Island

This senior read recently that the next Star Wars VIII was being films at Malin Head. Any idea where the island is located? Me either, I had to look it up.

Malin Head, though not actually a town, has become a fairly large community, steadily growing as more new houses are being built. It has always been a strategically important part of Ireland, where observation posts and signal towers were erected to keep an eye on shipping movements passing the northern coast.

Ireland’s most northerly point, Malin Head is the dramatic rocky headland at the tip of the rugged Inishowen Peninsula in Donegal. Malin won the Irish Tidy Towns Competition in 1970 and 1991. It was a planned settlement platted around a triangular green.

 Seniors Enjoy Spectacular Views

The first lighthouse on the island was put into operation in 1813, and the light flashes every 30 seconds. Malin Head’s rugged landscape hosts flourishing wildlife, historic curiosities and some of the island’s most spectacular views.

Malin Head is renowned for its rugged coastal landscape and attractive beaches. The area is steeped in history and folklore. Malin Head is an area for all tastes, including walking, fishing, swimming, photography, studying rock formations or rare flora and it is close to Inishowen’s splendid golf courses, so senior golfers, bring along your clubs.

Discover some of the largest sand dunes in Europe. Several miles off the coast of Malin Head lies Inistrahull island, composed of the oldest rocks in Ireland, metamorphic gneisses dated at around 1.778 billion years old! Further to the east, the hills of Scotland can be seen on a good day.

 Seniors Enjoy the Wild Atlantic

Senior birders, Malin Head is an ideal vantage point from which to view the autumnal movements of seabirds such as gannets, shearwaters, skuas and auks on their southward migration flights. With the wild Atlantic Ocean for a neighbor, the area is renowned for epic coastal scenery, thriving birdlife and plenty of historical significance.

One asks…what lies beneath? Overall, the turbulent waters off Malin Head have witnessed more than their share of maritime history. The folks at Malin Head Shipwrecks can tell senior visitors that there are more ocean liners and German U-boats sunk off this stretch of coast than anywhere else in the world.

The rolling grasslands are dotted with suitably thick-coated donkeys and cows. The village of Malin, 14km southeast of Malin Head, has a pretty movie-set quality, set around a neat, triangular village green.

For me and my wife, I’d want us to take in the Glenvaegh National Park as well as the Glenveagh Castle. So let’s plan to meet at the Seaview Tavern and I’ll treat you to a pint. -jeb