Sunday 20th
August 2017
 |
| Wild Atlantic Way cottage |
54 degrees 27.216N
08 degrees 17.474W
Wild Atlantic Way
Cottage
Donegal, Ireland
 |
| Rowan berries in their thousands |
We were sad to leave our very comfortable place in
Belfast, full of hospitality and welcome but…it was time to move on!
In the late afternoon yesterday Liz and I went for a
last glorious walk along the River Lagan towpath, and up onto the tracks on beautiful
green hills.
 |
| Thank you Google |
She took me to the Giants Ring, a small stone henge
set in a very large perfect circle, constructed in 2700BC. It was too big to fit the whole thing on my camera
so I stole a drone image from Google.
 |
| The henge is on the right...on the left is a black dot which is actually a large black dog running joyfully across the grass |
The farmland here is so very green and luscious – hard
to believe there was such wholesale famine after the potato blight. The cows are fat and happy, crops burst out
of the ground, the trees grow tall and leafy.
We left more or less in sunshine but before long it
was drizzling gently – hence all of the greenness!
It was of course all extremely pretty, with lovely little
villages and fabulous farmland along the highway.
We stopped to have a short walk into the forest where the
ruins of Castle Caldwell are shrouded in greenery. The castle was built in the 1600s, I think…(1612-19
actually – thank you Google!)
Our pretty Ford Fiesta rental car posed nicely near the
castle gates. Pete loves it much more
than he loved the Italian Panda. I loved one of the stories we heard from our
Belfast friends. When Judith was a
little girl her father was driving behind a Fiat Panda. She was learning to read at the time, and said,
with a bit of concern, “Oh look! There is
a Flat Panda!”
The Caldwell Forest is just gorgeous. And Donegal seem to be looking after it very
well. Ivy has been strangling the tall trees,
and a team of foresters has gone in to cut it off at the pass. Good to see!
We were very amused to see a car confidently parked RIGHT
across a big wooden gate with a big sign saying…PLEASE DO NOT OBSTRUCT ACCESS. This car couldn’t have blocked the access
more if it had tried!
Our next stop was the Belleek factory. (No I hadn’t heard of Belleek fine china…I
have now!) We looked at the amazingly intricate
ceramic lacework and marvelled…And then we watched a short video where they
showed how the artists actually create the baskets, bowls, lamps, wolfhounds
etc etc. Fabulous! NO I do not want ne! For a start I can’t afford one; also I can’t cram
one into my tiny travelling pack… (And maybe this much prettiness is not really
my style…)
We ended up in Killybegs, a very pretty town, home to
a very big fishing fleet with the biggest fishing boats we have ever seen.
We saw a young seal bobbing around and gushed nicely. Always happy to see wildlife! But…I don’t like to take the shine away from Killybegs…BUT yesterday one of my daughters met up with a leopard seal on the beach 100 metres from her house in Cremorne… (Tasmania Rules!! And just look at those teeth…)
We saw a young seal bobbing around and gushed nicely. Always happy to see wildlife! But…I don’t like to take the shine away from Killybegs…BUT yesterday one of my daughters met up with a leopard seal on the beach 100 metres from her house in Cremorne… (Tasmania Rules!! And just look at those teeth…)
So now we are holed up in a very pretty airbnb cottage
in Dunkineely, near Killybegs. It is
very nice but…it cost $133 for the night and there is no breakfast… I do expect
a bit of toast for $133!
Tomorrow we are going to look at some big cliffs and some
more Irish beauty, and then we are going to Sligo for the night – to a much cheaper
airbnb which does provide breakfast…
Loving Ireland, north and south!
But meanwhile back
in Tasmania…here is Leo, aged 11…
No comments:
Post a Comment