Derry and County Donegal

As I may have mentioned, two of Carrie's friends from the west arrived on Thursday and they planned a road trip. We planned to stay home and sit with Alex. Friday morning, Carrie woke us up to say she was missing him and wanted him to go with. We were free for the weekend. So I was off on my excursion to Dublin to pick up a car and we were off around 1pm for Derry ( Londonderry on some maps) and County Donegal.

This time I had a choice of a Nissan Note or Ford Fiesta. I chose the Nissan, which is a small, kind of square, car. After they wrote it up, they told me it was brand new, with no marks. I thought, thanks a lot. I'm going to be driving some very small roads in the north with an unmarked car. Do spare you the worry, I got it back without any marks and was glad I hadn't noticed until Sunday that they hadn't tied on the hubcaps.

Took bit over 3 hours to get the 140 miles to Derry. That's how good the road system here is and we were driving the next best thing to their "Interstate". We were able to visit the tourist office before it closed, which is good, because it isn't opened on weekends. We later were told by a guide that though tourism is up in Derry, weekend tourism basically doesn't exist, yet.

We had called for a reservation at a recommended B&B that was the only one located close to the town center. Was an old Georgian place that they were trying to maintain. We were able to park in front and leave the car until we left the next afternoon.

Derry's town center is walled. They were constructed several centuries ago and at places are over 20 feet across. Originally there were 4 gates and they have since added a couple. The longest siege in English history occurred at this spot, which is located on the River Foyle, which opens up into the Northern Atlantic through Foyle Lake. Was where many emigrated from to Australia and America and also where the English fleet was based that protected the cargo ships coming across the Atlantic during WWII. They were so successful at foiling the German U-Boats from this position that the top German official in charge of U-boats had them surrender at this port at the end of the war.

Friday evening we were able to do some scouting of the area to be familiar for our tours on Saturday. We ate one of the lowest priced meals on our trip within the walls that night. I had a first in Lamb's liver. Probably first and last as it didn't measure up to calves, but of course Mother, I cleaned my plate.

We tried to find live music at a local pub, but we either didn't wait late enough or it wasn't happening. Unfortunately, Northern Ireland's ban on smoking doesn't go into operation until end of April. We left early because of the smoke.

We met our first tour guide for a Bogside/troubles related tour at 10. He was a red headed Irishman, who had grown up in the Bogside. The Bogside is where Bloody Sunday occurred in 1972. Briefly, the British opened fire on a "Civil Rights" type march claiming they were fired upon first. The shooting lasted 20 minutes and they are still holding inquiries-the last started in 1998 and costing many millions. No findings yet. Our guide was very good. He had lived in many places including Florida, Pa., Spain and London. He was probably in his mid thirties. One interesting mention was that he didn't think his generation had the toughness to do what the previous had done.

We stopped after the tour at Austins for a snack. Austins dates back to the mid 1800's and takes credit for being the first department store in the world. They had a 3rd floor window restaurant that over looked the center of the square.

The next tour covered the history of the town. We were the only ones on the tour, which basically walked the wall with commentary. We learned a lot here and from a tour of the Tower Museum.

Off to County Donegal on a circle tour of what our tour "bible" calls the real Ireland. It was a circle drive from Letterkenny that covers much of the coastal area as well as some inland areas. We managed to arrive at our goal stop for the night to find both the recommended B&B's closed. One did recommend a guest house nearby, which welcomed us. After settling in, we drove few miles to Leo's Tavern recommended for its food and live music (by Leo, no less).

When we arrived (it was off the "main" road few miles in the country), I noticed couple of people at a neighboring table had mussells. I ordered them as starters and 24 were delivered. Great choice. We had dessert and few drinks along with main course and ended up with maybe our second lowest bill.

We hung around until 10 (from 7:30) for the live music, which turned out to be 80+ year old Leo on the accordion. Not exactly the live Irish music we had expected, but was good.

Sunday we got up early as we were led to believe that the drive was slow and would take many hours. Though it was as great as advertised, we were back in Letterkenny by noon. Part of this was probably due to nothing being open, including several craft places which are car is not allowed to normally pass up. Check out the pictures (may take few days to get to the blog) for evidence. Though the driving was a bit challenging at times, well worth the effort.

We took a side jaunt on our way back around Lake Erne, partly because someone with me hoped the Beelek pottery factory would be opened. We had purchased a piece at one of their stores on our last Ireland visit and had hoped for chance at something else. Not opened. :(

We got back in time for the local pub's live music night and magically arrived the same time the south contingent did.

Great weekend.

Later!