County Donegal

WARNING:  This post has more photos than any reasonable blog post should have.  Consider yourself warned. 

While it was hard to leave County Galway, we were eager to see more of Ireland.  We headed north through several beautiful counties on our way to County Donegal, the northernmost county in Ireland. 

We made one brief stop in County Sligo ~ partly because we like the name, and partly because we happened upon a sign pointing to the grave of W.B. Yeats ~ the poet we have been studying this term.  He was born in Dublin, but his childhood home was Sligo.  Interestingly, his brother, Jack, was a famous Irish painter whose work we have since seen at the National Gallery in Dublin.  That Yeats family was pretty talented!

Up motorways, around narrow roadway curves, over many a bridge, and ever-appreciative of our GPS, we finally arrived at our thatch-roofed cottage in Donegal.   Some might call it "quaint", or "peaceful", or "remote"....I would call it "FREEZING!"  Never have I been so cold as I was INSIDE this cottage.  It WAS all those other things as well ~ quaint, peaceful, and pleasantly remote. :) 

 

Our view of the Atlantic Ocean out our back windows was breathtaking.

We took a wonderful tour of Donegal with a guide named Derek....I thought I got a picture of him with the boys, but I must not have.  He was an interesting guy with many interests and lots of education, especially in history and archaeology.  He was also a great photographer and an ornithology enthusiast, which I loved because I love birds too.  Most importantly, he LOVES the area he toured with us, which always enhances the tour.  Above is a photo of what might be called a "mussel farm".  Mussels are cultivated on "beds" in this tidal area.  Derek said he didn't know there were so many because when he drives by the tide is never this low so these beds are usually covered in water.

We saw a couple of stones like this with a hole through them that day.  He said wherever we saw one, we could know it was the site of a very early Christian settlement.  

Next we saw the Assnaranka Waterfall...beautiful.

This is Maghera Beach.  Again, low tide paid off.  Derek had prepped us for this site saying there were 5 or 6 sea caves we could explore.  He had never been here with the tide so low (despite his many years of giving tours), and we realized that there are actually 11 sea caves!   

Ben and Chris absolutely LOVED exploring these caves.  Derek said that several ships from the Spanish Armada were known to have sunk in the immediate vicinity of these caves and local lore says that treasure from these ships was buried deep in these sea caves and could still be there.  You could see the gleam in Ben's eyes as he thought about searching for this treasure.  

Chris discovered this tunnel while he was exploring.  Derek didn't know it existed so he was excited about it.  I suppose he normally shows adults around, who don't explore as much as the boys did.  It was exciting for Chris to discover something even the guide didn't know about. :)

This is called Gransha Pass...the photo does not do it justice.

We saw so many newly born sheep that day.  These twins were real cuties....but too fast for the boys.  They were desperate to pet a sheep.  Derek was very accommodating, stopping the car several times throughout the day to let them try.

This is a portal tomb in an area called Glencomcille.  This area has many ancient tombs ~ fascinating stuff!  One thing I have loved about so many of the places we have visited in Europe is that they are so accessible.  I feel like if this were an American landmark, it would be cordoned off and you would have to look at it from a distance.  This treasure of an ancient tomb was just out in a farmer's field.  The boys could go inside and climb all over it.  It is such an incredible way to not just SEE these sights but to EXPERIENCE them.

A court tomb in the same area

The Mitchell family in the middle of a field of court tombs....kind of like getting a family picture taken in a cemetery.  Strange yet cool.....kind of.

Chris spotted this little guy by the side of the road as we were driving.  Derek stopped and the boys finally got to pet a lamb!

This picture was taken at the top of Slieve League, a huge rock cliff in Donegal.  There are three levels.  You are at the first level in the car park.  You can hike up to the second level, which we did.  You can see the third level in the background of this picture.  You CAN hike up there, but we settled for the second level on this VERY windy day.  The views were amazing!

This is from the very top of the second level.  There was a steep drop on the other side of these rocks.  

Slieve League

I love this one!

And now, for a little celebrity gossip, Derek pointed out a house which belongs to Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick.  Apparently they spend time here each year and are seen about town.

Fintra Beach....another of Ireland's fine beaches.

Feeding some donkeys on the side of the road.  These needed their hooves clipped ~ they looked like they had little shoes on.

Before winding up our tour, we went to see the docks in Killybegs, Derek's hometown and a huge commercial fishing port.  I loved this sign we saw as we drove on the dock.  I will have to make a post at the end of the trip of all the funny signs I have seen.

There were several huge fishing boats at the dock.  Derek said one like this can cost between 10 and 20 million dollars.  Derek returned us to our car after Killybegs....it was a great tour.

I saw this sign at a restaurant in Dungloe, the town nearest our cottage.  I would love it for my house. :)

Another highlight of Donegal was a round of golf for Chris and Jeff.  There was a beautiful course on Cruit Island with amazing rocky views.  I decided to get some laundry done that afternoon (I love golf, but I love WARM golf) and Ben started the round with them, but returned, shivering, to the clubhouse after the 3rd hole, spending his afternoon drinking Cokes and watching Law and Order (might be one of his favorite afternoons of the trip).  The diehards completed the round and loved every minute of it!!  I am sure it was a Top 3 (as we like to call it) for Chris.

The view from the Clubhouse

Chris was very excited that it only took him two tries to get out of this pot bunker.  This may be one of the only photos I have taken in which Chris is wearing long pants.  He needed them that day.

This photo is from my exciting afternoon of doing laundry.  It dries pretty quickly in this kind of wind.

Just thought I would include this photo of the inside of our cottage.  We tried very hard to get a turf fire going in this fireplace to warm the place up, but were not very successful.  Still it was a very charming cottage in an amazing location.  Many thanks to Jeff, who has done such a great job in planning our trip.  Donegal is definitely a place we will never forget.