Beautiful beach accessible by beach wheelchair - but you'll have to work for it
3.5
3.5
Date of visit: July 2021
I have experience of challenges around: moving around
Overall Rating
Good
We were staying in County Donegal and wanted to find an accessible beach, so I did a search for beach wheelchairs and found that there was one you could borrow at Marble Hill Strand. The information was on the county council website here: https://www.donegalcoco.ie/services/environment/blueflagbeachesgreencoast/ . The beach wheelchair is kept by the Shandon Hotel, so we phoned them as instructed and booked the beach wheelchair for the day. Both on the phone and when we got to the hotel, the staff were pleasant and helpful, although we got the impression it had been quite some time since anybody had enquired about the wheelchair. And this was probably because... the Shandon is not actually near the beach! With some effort, we partially dismantled the beach wheelchair and just about squeezed it into the car with one of the back seats down, and then we drove to Marble HIll Strand, where we discovered that only one small section of the beach has an obvious concrete ramp down to it, and that is cut off from the main stunning beach by rocks and the sea. However, when we asked if there was any other way to the beach, a lifeguard tipped us off that we could drive down the main coast road to the far end of the beach and go down a private unsurfaced road, which was pretty sandy and bumpy, but not impossible for our standard family car. We were able to park the car - again with a bit of trepidation - on what was essentially a grass-covered dune off the private road, and then, with a lot of muscle involved from my partner, reassemble the beach wheelchair and bump me in it down onto the beach a few metres away. This was all a bit of a palaver, but it was absolutely worth it, because I rarely get to go right onto such a fabulous wild beach with dunes, and we had a lovely time.
Disabled Access In and Around
Average
Three cheers that this place even has a beach wheelchair, but getting it to the beach and onto the sand is not for the faint-hearted.
Parking & Transport
Average
Parking was fine at the Shandon hotel, but very busy down near the beach. Didn't matter too much though once we'd made it down the secret sandy road and left the car there.
Accessible Toilets
Average
I didn't spot any loos down at the beach itself, but there was a lovely clean spacious accessible loo up at the Shandon Hotel.
Staff
Good
The Shandon Hotel staff were helpful, as was the beach lifeguard who tipped us off about the secret access road.
Additional Information
This trip was mostly outdoors, but everyone was observing mask-wearing in the Shandon Hotel foyer.
