3/20

I started the morning in Letterkenny with pancakes...the first I have seen since I got here. Breakfast seems to be consistently the following: variety of cereals, fruit salad (thankfully banana free), yogurt, toasted (sandwich) and untoasted (usually wheaten bread which is smaller and less consistent than sandwich) bread. Then you can have a full fry or some of those components. A full fry constitutes, for those unsure, eggs, bacon, sausage, grilled tomato, toast. Depending on where you are it can also include one or more of: fried mushrooms, black or white pudding, beans. It's all a bit much really. It's one saving grace is that it is mostly protein and lasts a long time (till dinner). 

Anyway, I stayed at a nice B&B, an older couple. I went first to Doon Well and Stone. The well is a holy well, supposedly blessed by a healer and not dedicated to a saint or Christian. Except when I got there there was a big sign about how to do turas (pilgrimage) and it involved a lot of Hail Marys and the apostle creed. Neither of which I know. And the water was...well let's just say I wasn't touching much less drinking it! Pretty spot though and obviously much trafficked since there were several trees hung about with offerings.  Later, at the workhouse museum on something about railways, it mentioned that the railway made trips to the Doon Well easier. I was interested as it is quite a distance for people to have wanted to go on the 1800s. Then I climbed Doon Stone which was used for crowning cheiftains, mostly O'Neills I think. It was a lovely high point from which you got a great view of the countryside (which I didn't photograph since I didn't take my camera). 

From there I wandered about the area where St Colmcille (Columba in English) was born. He's one of Ireland's great saints, along with Patrick and Brigid. He also founded the important monastery on Iona, a Scottish island. Anyway, I spent a long time drawing the cross at one of his first monasteries by his home and then the church wall. I'm fascinated by the dry stone building and the lovely way it goes together. Also the doorway is no taller than I am at its highest point. 

Then I drove around Glenveagh national park which was seething with families and people on bikes, because by this time the clouds of the last few days had lifted and the sun came out. Very pretty. These are the Derryveagh mountains, seen from outside the park:

No, it's not snow on top. 

I next came over a hill to a valley where I could immediately see a lake and a ruined church. The turn was also good for the Poisoned Glen, supposedly poisoned when Balor, a one-eyed king of Tory, was killed. His eye spilled poison on the Glen. More prosaically, it was a cartographers mistake--they change one letter of the Irish name and went from heavenly to poisoned. It was a very rocky place between arid looking mountains with a lovely stream running through it. 

 

The old church was quite picturesque and I spent a lot of time drawing it too. It's a Church of Ireland church which was building mid 1800s and in 1955 the roof was removed as there was not enough people for the congregation. The graveyard is still in use though. 

When I got to the coast, I went to a museum in an old workhouse to learn more about the famine and workhouses. Extremely sad and brutal history. Workhouses did feed and clothe you but they were terrible places to live and separated families, even babies. 

Driving down the coast I circled the Gweedore peninsula, stopping at Magheraroarty beach. This is also where the Tory Island ferry goes from.  It's a lovely long beach, which makes a sweeping curve around the bay and bends out towards Inishboffin island. I hear (from a lovely lady who chatted with me) that Inishboffin is even prettier than Tory but harder to get to as no one lives there year round. 

3/21

In spite of my best intentions I did not manage to make it out if Donegal today. The Glencolmcille peninsula proved to be quite fantastically beautiful and interesting. I heard Gaelic spoken! Lovely and musical. The peninsula is all mountains and ocean, quite rugged and remote. It's getting more tourists now because of the Wild Atlantic Way which is a new scenic route that runs the length of the western side. 

There's a fantastic folk museum in Glencolmcille. What I especially loved about it was that it focused on the common people's experience and living circumstances. There were 5 cottages from different time periods and that belonged to different types of people (farmers, fishermen) along with a wealth of implements, mostly donated from the community but in quite good shape. They have developed some good material about it as well. Living circumstances were quite harsh--although the cottage walls were thick I doubt they were very warm. All were thatched in the traditional way. Life was sparse--they had very little. And yet it seems it was sufficient because there has been life on that peninsula for millennia--it has numerous archaeological finds and cairns and so on dating back to the Bronze Age. Lovely spot with beautiful beaches (too bad it was cold!). Next time I come I will try to stay awhile. Although the peninsula does lack accommodation and restaurants. 

Interesting thought--we talk about food deserts in the US.  Most of Ireland could be considered a food desert--I can't count how many villages I've been thru with only a pub. Not that it's far to somewhere else, but usually not walking distance either. Even slightly larger towns won't have much. 

Some other musings:

I'm losing track of right from left. I don't think I realized how much I depended on driving and cars for that. Now I have to think about my writing hand. It's an interesting disorientation. 

Religion: Ireland has a zillion churches, both Catholic and Anglican.  And of course an immensely rich religious history, both pagan and Christian. What's interesting is that in the republic I have seen precisely one church that might be more evangelical in nature. No religious signage. No one seems to care in the republic. However, in the north, I suddenly started seeing signs of religious activity that looks more like what you see in the US: signs with scripture, more evangelical, fellowship type worship places. And of course, in the north, everyone cares a great deal which church you belong to. 

Gravestones don't give birthdates but rather age and date of death.  And are often used for whole families like from 1800s forward. I can't tell if a lot of people are cremated and then use the same grave or what's happening. 

The whole of Ireland is quite park-like. When you think people have been living here since 9000 years BC you kinda see why. Here's s list of wilder places so far: Glenveagh park, Malin Head, the Glencolmcille area, Urris mountains. I'm guessing there will be more in Connacht. 

Music seems to mostly start very late at night (10ish) and be played in noisy, crowded pubs. Which is why I am not seeing so much of it. Mostly I'm pretty tired after a day of driving and hiking about. Plus pubs are dark so I don't particularly want to sit about in one for an hour or two after dinner waiting for music to start. Although good conversation sometimes. 

Derry & the Inishowen peninsula

Derry comes from the Irish word Doire which means oak grove. A settlement has been there since at least the 500s and maybe earlier depending on how one interprets archaeological evidence. It was originally an island but no more. 

Which takes me to an offshoot. Ireland is a park in my mind. Even the wildest places are inhabited and used, and modified for human needs. It's nothing like wilderness in the US. In some ways I like this sense of continuous inhabitation, the sense that every spot has been loved at some point. And in others I think I prefer the wilderness and wildness of much of the US land. 

Back to Derry. Or Londonderry as it was renamed when it was granted to the city of London in the 1600s to rebuild. It's a sweet little city. The second largest in Northern Ireland and the only one to have its city walls survive intact (albeit with modifications--two more gates and more ways on and off them for pedestrians). The city wall walk is lovely. The murals in the Bogside, which are cousins to those in Belfast, are more interesting and artistic than the ones in Belfast. I didn't do a tour and I wish I had. The town has a more arts oriented feel and seems quite cosmopolitan. There is a craft village with several artist cooperative stores--and quite good work. I could definitely consider moving there. I stayed in a nice B&B which was only a few minutes from city center by foot--the owners were very kind and even let me do laundry! 

This morning I took off for Donegal (pronounced don ne gal) which is supposed to be one of the most beautiful areas in Ireland. It is gorgeous. Mountains and sea. And a lot of people for somewhere that's supposed to be so rural. Rural in the sense that it isn't a city but not rural like the west!

The Glenevin park was a nice detour to see a waterfall in a Glen. 

The Gap of Mamore was interesting. Basically a one lane road over the Urris mountains, it has a fun history. Read:

I liked the idea of a republic based on liquor! The well is obviously much used and venerated as it had several statues with offerings. There was also a lot of trash. I noticed people were leaving offerings; I decided mine would be to clean up all the trash in the vicinity. It's interesting that I can't find anything about St Egney except that he may have been a Druid who saw the Christian faith coming. St Colmcille (Columb) was another very busy Saint who founded at least a couple of monasteries all in the northwest and in Scotland on Iona. Local lore says he was born in Donegal. 

Panorama of the gap and the well:

I stopped at the Carndonagh cross this afternoon and was charmed by the simple carving on it and the imagery of Jesus with his arms spread in benediction or welcome (instead of crucified). There were two pillars next to it with carvings as well--one of a harpist and one of another clergyman with symbols of office. And in the graveyard, the lovely marigold stone with a flower like design carved on it. The church was new, but incorporated a 15th century door lintel and had a 12th century one on display, both found on site. The graveyard is still in use but had the sense of some very old graves mixed in. Lovely.  I think this site is associated with Colmcille as well 

Now I'm up at the north end of the peninsula. I'm staying the night in a pub with good music which I enjoyed earlier. Lots of people out enjoying St Pats day. I was stunned at how many places were closed--basically all shops and many restaurants that weren't pubs. Schools maybe too? Families and cyclers were out everywhere enjoying the sun and the day which I can completely get behind. 

Giants Causeway to Derry

This morning I went off to the Giants Causeway. I love the old story about this. Finn McCool, a giant living with his wife Oona and son in the headlands nearby, decided one day to challenge the giant in Scotland to a fight. However, he didn't want to get his feet wet so instead he took the rocks and built a causeway across the sea. He then snuck over and when he caught site of Diarmuid (I think that's the Scottish giant's name) he got scared and ran home. Diarmuid followed him so Finn posed as his baby in the cradle. Diarmuid took one look at him and said if that's the baby how big is the father?? And then ran off back to Scotland, tearing up most of the causeway as he went. To substantiate the story, there's a piece of corresponding causeway on the Scottish coast. You can still see Finn's chimney on the headland and they say it smokes sometimes. LOL

I did listen to the scientific explanation as well, which was volcanic and something about the way the lava cooled it cracked into the neat hexagon shapes. That story was good too but not quite as entertaining. Although interesting as I don't think if Ireland as volcanic. In any case I walked down to look at the causeway and then climbed back up by the shepherds stairs--168 uneven basalt steps to walk back along the headland. All of it with amazing views in spite of the fog over toward Scotland. Here's a taste of the Causeway. I suggest looking it up online for better photos. 

I then went off to Bushmills for a tour of the oldest continuously operating distillery in the world. Pretty interesting. They use a lot of barley every year! And water. Their barley comes to them malted (sprouted basically) from the same place that does it for Guinness. Bushmills also bottles and distributes Jameson's, which is made in Cork. The difference between Irish and Scottish whiskey is that Irish are triple distilled for a smoother finish while Scottish double distills to keep more flavor (and some use peat fired malted barley as well for flavor). Most Irish whiskey isn't peated although I guess there are a couple of boutique distilleries now doing that here. Anyway, the Irish add their flavor back in by using bourbon barrels imported from KY, as well as Sherry and Madeira barrels. Once they use the barrels a couple of times, they sell them to the Scottish distilleries who don't care so much about the flavor addition part. Apparently we're all friends in the liquor business! No pictures allowed at Bushmills. 

I then took the coast road to Derry and managed not to get too lost or confused on the way into Derry. Once again I appreciated google maps as it helped me find the B&B. 

North Antrim Coast 3/14

A coastal day along the Irish Sea. It was mostly sunny today but foggy out in the sea so Scotland was hidden in a dense gray mass. The coast is all narrow curvy roads and sea views with small pretty villages along it. I stopped to see the Glenariff forest park. Glens are apparently narrow gorges with watercourses, usually forested, often glacial in origin. This glen had amazing views out to the sea but not so much forest (at least not for an American westerner). There are 9 or 10 glens in Antrim depending on your interpretation. View from the park to the sea:

I also traveled the Torr Head road. This is an extremely narrow two laner. In the US it would be a one way street. I was pleased to see very few cars and most I did see passed me while I was stopped looking at things. Gorgeous views. The community there is very tightly knit as it was essentially cut off from the mainland--it was harder to get overland than to simply take a boat to Scotland--and many of the people working these very steep and rocky farms are Scottish in origin. The views are amazing but honestly it seems like a very hard life. Nothing much was flat. View of the area:

Here's my car which is kindly taking me everywhere:

After Torr Head I stopped at Bonmargy Friary (Bonmargy means bottom of the Margy which is the river) and then at Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. Which wasn't as scary as it might sound. 

I then decided to stay in Bushmills tonight as my knee was too irritated to handle the Giants Causeway so I found a darling little room above a pub, had dinner and then a beer, a cider and a shot of a homemade potatoe...whiskey? While chatting with some Irishmen and a pair of Germans. One of the Irishmen was from Strangford Lough and was doing some work up here. They are all quite entertained by the American political circus even as they are also worried about what it means for Europe. The Germans disliked the similarities to Hitler that they see in our Republican "front runner" and I disliked that Hilary seemed to be the only alternate--they barely knew about Sanders. 

The coast up here seems better cared for, maybe a bit more prosperous, than the Mourne area. 

Hill of Tara

Hill of Tara, a place which was in use for 3 millennia and more, is a huge and subtle site. It's hard to tell exactly what you are looking at. There are huge earthworks. The site has parts which were built in various times such as early and late prehistory, the stone, iron and bronze ages. It was where the high kings reigned and is said to be the seat of the Tuatha de Danann, who are also known as Ireland's Sidhe or Faery. It's high on a hill, very green and relatively isolated and quite large. Truly they don't know what any of it was exactly although there are parts which appear more ritual and others more defensive. Then there are the legends and stories. Altogether a fascinating set of ideas. 

Panorama trying to take it in. 

I don't think I'm going to make the Irish session tonight much as I'm very tired still even after a 4 hour nap. 

I did finally get some money and figured out a SIM card for my phone. And parking. It is ridiculous how proud I am that I've managed not to make any mistakes. 

Bru na Boinn and beyond

I must've been seriously tired as I slept 12 hours last night. I was asleep by 8, and didn't have dinner either. This morning I went over to Bru na Boinn which is an ancient site with aspects of it dating back to the Neolithic people, and other parts that came later. The site is older than the pyramids and encompasses three major and about 30 smaller monuments. They call them passage tombs and Newgrange is one of the finest that you can still go into. Building it was a feat for the times and it includes rock from far away (like Wicklow, which is in southern Ireland). It also has 10+ ton kerbstones, about 60 of them, which were brought from 20 km away and rolled up the hill. Some of these are carved: 

They don't allow photography inside. Really it is a miracle they allow people inside. Inside is a passageway, at times very narrow and low (had to duck and squeeze--but so did everyone) to a central chamber with three smaller alcoves. It's cuneiform shape, not unusual. What is amazing is that it is perfectly aligned so the sun comes into it and penetrates all the way to the end a few days a year at winter solstice. They mimic this with electric light so you can get a sense of what it's like. Also the chamber has a high, vaulted ceiling made of corbeled stones set in a spiral shape. Stones are also angled to shed water, and grooved. The ceiling is amazing, trust me. There's some lovely carvings as well. 

From there I went to Drogheda, a nice town. Then to Monasterboice, monastic ruins dating from pre-521, as its founding saint, Boice, died that year. There's also a church of "little interest" from the 13th century...oh to have so many sites that one can be of little interest! I suppose it is like Egypt in that there's so many one takes it for granted or loses all interest. Except that Ireland seems to take much better care of them. The really old interesting remains are three gorgeously carved crosses which aren't even terribly worn away by weather. They are called scriptural crosses because the imagery is from scriptural stories. There's also a round tower, burnt in 10 something. 

The small structure to the right of the cross is the uninteresting one. 

Boy I look grumpy! This is the door to the uninteresting structure which is barely my height, as was the door to the tower. 

I found it interesting that the graveyard is still in use and has many lovely flowers planted in it. Irish graveyards are much more interesting that the American ones I have been in--graves are everywhere, every which way, and gloriously different and flowered. 

From there I drove to the coast and north to Carlingford, a medieval town with super narrow streets and tightly packed buildings. Dinner at a pub with a glass of Guinness...even more delicious than I remember in England. 

Oh yes! Driving is definitely interesting. There are two road signs I'm fond of. One is "traffic calming" which is essentially "we are making you go slower". I love the concept of calming traffic not that it appears to work really. Irish people drive kinda fast and rather crazy in their narrow roads but of course they are used to them. One does have to remember though that really 80 km/hr is about 35...so I guess it isn't that fast even if it feels like it when you are zooming around an unmarked curve! My complete favorite, found on a country lane this morning, was "no road markings." Again, a tiny and windy road on which I had observed no road markings for several kilos. That one I found hysterical as there are quite a lot of roads around without the benefit of any markings. 

Apparently music is something done late here--so far it starts at 10 everywhere and I was too tired last night...not sure I'll make it tonight either. 

Ireland day one

I landed at 445 am in Dublin. Didn't sleep much--not sure why. I guess it's not the first time I've been in Ireland as I flew through Shannon once but never got out of the airport. I still have a book I bought there though--Anam Cara. I love it. 

Everything is in Gaelic and English. Wonder if I can pick up a bit of Gaelic?

I picked up my car. Driving on the wrong side is an adventure but I am proud to say that I had only one lapse and since I was going slow and the other person was too there was no harm done. I got the heck out of Dublin so I could get a feel for it. The first thing I noticed was that signs are...well, they are difficult. They are sometimes right on top of the turn so you can't prepare. Or turned funny so they don't work or were never meant to work for the direction you are coming from. That said I somehow managed to get out of Dublin going the right way and then onto a smaller road and then still smaller roads. That weird sense of direction I've always had was very helpful this morning! I found Fourknocks, an old cairn site. Odd and interesting site. It's quite old, like Stone Age. There's a slightly wide spot in the road to park and then you take a lovely short path to the cairn. Apparently you can get a key to go in but at 630 in the morning I decided not to ask. 

The cairn from along the path. 

Steps leading to the top of the cairn and its entrance

View from top of cairn looking south 

After I left there I made my way to Slane (a town) which was basically still closed at a bit after 8. I also realized the room I thought I booked for the 9th was really for the 8th. So I decided to go on over and see if they would let me check in and stay another night. I was mad at myself for the silly mistake but in the end I think this is going to work out well--they let me check in and gave me a badly needed breakfast and some information, like where to get a SIM card for my phone. Athlumney Manor, in Navan, if you are interested. Very nice place, easy to find, kind owners. Now I am feeling better--fed, found, a place to lie down, a plan for the day and for tomorrow too I think. Also feeling more confident that I can manage the driving as long as I pay attention. Another good reason to have checked in early as I was getting very tired and so was hyper careful while driving which is in turn exhausting! Rumor has it the Hill of Tara, an old site high on my list is 10 minutes away and there is an Irish music session tonight at 10 pm at one of the pubs.