Donegal County, Ireland – July 2009
I’ve broken down my time in Donegal by day here, mostly because at first I was writing posts each day (so my Alzheimer’s leaning brain wouldn’t forget what I did). Going out to the wee hours meant that most of the days didn’t really get going until after noon. Mornings were spent updating photos, checking email, reading, and looking at the rain. At some point in my life, I hope I can learn to sleep in…
Day 1:
I arrive at the Dublin airport just after 2:30pm. The plane takes a lovely drive around the airport, taxiing forever to get to our gate. It was like a Sunday afternoon drive, only in a gigantic gas guzzling machine, and the entire time I was thinking, “I need to catch the 3:20 bus. I’m never going to make it.” We finally parked, I dashed to the baggage area (luckily, the Dublin airport is not very large), and proceeded to watch everyone else’s bags ride the belt before mine appeared. 3:15pm at this point. I wheel my bags like mad and look for the bus park. On the way, I do notice that cars are coming at me from the right when I cross over. I had forgotten they drive on the opposite side of the road here…Japan flashback! I get there at 3:25, but it seems there’s a cue and a bus! I ask if it’s the line for bus route 30, and it is! The bus was a few minutes late arriving to the airport from downtown.
The ride to Donegal took about four hours. Once we got going, the downpour started. Not drizzle, not sprinkle, but pouring buckets. The bus made a short stop in one town, and I had just enough Euros to but some crisps and a diet coke (I neglected to mention nothing was served on Eir Lingus, and I was hungry since breakfast had been forever ago and I couldn’t find my energy bars). Arrived in Donegal to pouring rain and smiling Richard and Claire. They are the best hosts ever!
During the ride, I decided that Ireland was very green, had lovely countryside, and most of the residents were sheep or cows. Seriously, I don’t think I saw many people outside except in the towns (I suppose that was partly due to the rain, but still). And there were very few houses out in the countryside, but lots of cattle and sheep grazing away. The few houses were adorable, though, especially the older-looking stone ones. And it all was so green! I have a feeling Cairo is going to be looking very dusty and brown when I get back.
We went to their house, Claire’s brother-in-law Johnnie joined us for dinner, and then we went to the pubs. We visited at least four that night (if I remember correctly). The first place was teeny tiny, but quite cozy. They let me pose behind the bar and pretend to pull a pint. Another one, the Reel Inn, had live music—traditional Irish stuff –that was quite good. We left the last pub after 2am, which is when the basement disco there apparently begins to get busy. But I was yawning like mad and needing to go to bed.
Day 2:
Sunshine! Hooray! I even managed to sleep in until 8:30, but stayed in bed until about 10. Eventually we had “breakfast” (if you call it that at 12:30pm). Then, Richard, Claire, and I went for a walk down to the beach. Along the way, we passed lots of cows and sheep. One field of sheep had recently been shorn. The shorn ones looked like they received a bad homemade punk rock haircut; their remaining fleece was clumpy and spray painted blue. Near the beach, we watched a horse jumping competition (not jumping over horses, but riding horses and jumping over fences). The tide was very low, and we could have walked out for quite some ways, but due to our lack of wellies, we passed on that. We meandered along the coastline and worked our way around the peninsula. We saw oyster and mussel equipment out in the water (they harvest them here and ship them to France and Japan), more cows, lots of little islands, and lots of empty shells. We’re going to take a water taxi around the islands later this week.
Shortly after returning to the house, the rains started. It poured quite hard for a while, but then cleared up. After it cleared, a huge rainbow appeared in the sky and was visible for quite some time. No pot o’ gold or leprechaun in sight, unfortunately.
Claire’s sister, Terese, joined us for dinner last night. We hit the pubs just after 10pm again. At the first pub, McCafferty’s, the bartender let me pull a Guinness! Then, I pulled a Heineken and a Carlsberg. I think I should scrap being a teacher, move to Ireland, and become a pub wench. We went again to the Reel Inn again and I met the owners, both of whom were performing. We went to at least two other places (again, they do start to blur together after a while). A lovely old man from the first pub followed us to a few of the other locations and bought me a few whiskeys. Richard was introduced as my dad all night, and Claire was my child bride mum. I chatted with some lovely Irish blokes that night as well. The musicians from the Reel Inn found us at the last stop we made and stopped to say hello (they remembered me because Claire said I was from Cairo). We made plans to meet up with some of our new friends tonight (and apologies to the one we called at 3am regarding his intentions). And again, got home after 2am, and we sat around the kitchen table having a nightcap and eating lovely little sweets.
Day 3:
If I am going to be out until the wee hours every night, I really need to learn how to sleep in. I was up again at 8:30, but did manage to fall back asleep for another hour.
Today we took a drive west along the peninsula of Donegal County to see some of the sights. We passed through Killybigs, a port town with tons of fishing trawlers parked in the dock. From there, we started on a windy, curvy, uphill road with plenty of dips, thus making driving fun for Claire, who couldn’t always tell where the road was going next.
We finally arrived at Slieve, which is the location of the highest sea cliffs in Europe. Just as we parked the car, the skies opened. So, we put on the raincoats and got out anyways. We climbed to the top, avoiding the sheep droppings that covered the trail (I mean, really, couldn’t they just keep it in the grass that made up 99% of the area?). The view from the top was amazing for the heights, but not for the distance. Visibility was not great at all. On the drive down, the dips and curves were more pronounced, and I was thinking it was a good day to spin off over the cliff and into the ocean…wet road, curves, oncoming cars, small roadwidth, unhappy passenger (not vacation-related cause)…
Next, we drove over back roads to Glengesh pass, where we parked for another photo op. Glengesh is where Claire’s dad grew up. It’s basically a little town between two big hills (that seems to be the case for most Irish towns). I saw the house where he grew up (just from the road), and more cows and sheep. We continued to to Maghera, which had a lovely waterfall, made all the lovelier thanks to several days of ongoing downpours. Claire’s mum was from that area. We saw the church where her parents married, too, which was in Angara. We also saw some “new” waterfalls coming down off the hills and running along the roads, making driving safe and even more enjoyable. The ditches were overflowing on the road!
After dinner, we hit the pubs again. When we met one of the blokes from last night, we decided that we all must have had our beer goggles on by that point, because he was boring as anything. So, we ditched him at the second pub and continued on to the Abbey. There, we met a couple of blokes, one of whom was trying to convince me that they made movies (while his friend was trying to keep a straight face). In actuality, the one was a shell farmer and the other was a solicitor (lawyer for my American friends). They both were funny guys, though, and the solicitor did make me a travel itinerary plan for Yeats Country (the Irish poet, W. B. Yeats, is buried nearby).
Day 4:
Today, we stuck around Donegal Town. We started at the central diamond (no, it’s not a square, it’s called a diamond in Donegal). I picked up a few souvenirs for family (but not everyone, since I seem to be in a shopping rut and unable to find things for those people I usually get presents for). There was a lovely bookshop, an old-style department store, and even a yarn shop with locally spun wool (bought one skein, for really warm socks or a hat and mittens).
We visited Donegal Castle, built back in medieval times. I’m ready to move in, once they fix the roof over the new wing of the building. The tower was incredible and the stairs were interesting. They were designed so the occupants would have the advantage when fighting invaders—curved to the right going up, different heights, and, thanks to centuries of use, very slippery now and slanted downward. After that, we went to the site of an old Abbey (most of which’s stones were used in building the castle), which is now a cemetery. Some of the graves dated back to the 1800’s.
Then, we took a drive to Lough Eske (that’s “Lake” Eske, for my non-Irish friends). There were two luxury hotels there, one of which was an old castle, but not in the same style as Donegal Castle. This place looked more Versailles than stone, and had some interesting sculptures in the garden. The lake was beautiful and peaceful. The road to and from the lake was scary as usual, with the narrowness, bends, and high grass…plus cars zipping along at 80 km an hour!
That night, we went for dinner at a great little Italian restaurant in Donegal, then did our usual tour of the pubs. We watched some Irish dancing at the Reel Inn, and again ended our evening in the Abbey.
Day 5:
My last day in Donegal County. We headed south along the coastline towards Sligo County to visit Claire’s sister, Anne. First, we stopped off in Drumcliffe, to see Yeats’s grave. His grandfather was a pastor at the parish church where the cemetery was located, and he grew up in the area. The cemetery was beautiful. I don’t know what it is, but I really do like cemeteries and I’ve seen some beautiful ones in the world (especially one in the Ukraine). Maybe it comes from living the first six years of my life with a cemetery across the street that doubled as our play area!
Next, we arrived in Sligo, a beach town complete with a boardwalk, ice cream and chip shops, and surfing lessons. Yes, in the rain and wind and cold (for me) temps, crazy locals were not only surfing (wearing wetsuits), but swimming in the water. I was shivering on shore in fleece and jeans. There were gorgeous, steep dunes that I climbed to get a better view. We also had tea and scones with Anne.
This was our first night at home. We ordered Indian food (very good!) and were in bed early, since I had a 7am bus to catch to Dublin.
Overall, I had a lovely week with Claire and Richard. They were very friendly, great hosts (I was only allowed to buy one round of drinks the entire time I was with them), and good company. I am already planning on returning to visit them again in the future. There’s a lot more to explore in the area (and I might miss the Abbey, the Reel, and my future job at McCafferty’s).
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