Benwee Head

Benwee Head is on the north Mayo coast between Belmullet and Belderrig, one of the least frequented parts of the Irish coastline. The cliffs reach about 255 metres and drop straight into water that is rarely calm, and offshore stand the Stags of Broadhaven - five sharp rock islands rising steeply from the sea, uninhabited and unlandable in most conditions. Access is on foot from Carrowteige, a Gaeltacht village, along the waymarked Children of Lir loop, named for the legend in which four children are turned into swans and spend three hundred years on the Sea of Moyle off this coast; a sculpture of the swans stands on the route. The walk crosses bog, heath and grazing land with no shelter. The cliff tops are unfenced and the wind here is strong enough to be genuinely dangerous near an edge.

What's there

• The cliff line - around 255 metres above the North Atlantic.
• The Stags of Broadhaven - five steep rock islands offshore.
• The Children of Lir loop - the waymarked route and its swan sculpture.
• The remoteness - one of the least visited coasts in Ireland.

When to go

May to September. Wind is the limiting factor - on a rough day the cliff edge is not a place to be. Ground is wet in most months.

What to expect

Unfenced cliffs at over two hundred metres, with wind strong enough to push you. Wet boggy ground and no shelter on the loop. No facilities and poor phone coverage. Very few other people, which cuts both ways.

Nearby

Carrowteige is the trailhead; Ceide Fields and Belderrig are east along the coast.