Donegal

October 6, 2012

This morning turned out to be a morning of visiting cemeteries. We went the wrong way when we turned out of the Tree Tops B&B and within 2 minutes we passed the Sligo cemetery.  It is huge!  Graves as far as the eye can see.  There are actually blocks and blocks of headstones.  We did fine a few Carrolls.  Mike, here’s a picture for you.  Since it was Saturday there were quite a few people visiting the cemetery.

We got on the correct road thanks to Annie O’Brian, and drove through Rathcormic and stopped at Drumcliffe.  Drumcliffe is where WB Yeats and his wife George are buried.  We wandered through the cemetery and visited the gift shop.  We started to go into the church, but just as we got to the door a man came out and locked the doors!  So much for that! 

Off we went driving through Grange, Cliffoney and taking a cut off to Mullaghmore Head.  This was a beautiful seaside drive.  This is another summer time town, but there were still people there, enjoying the spotty sun. 

We got back on the main road and went through River Duff, Tullegham, and Beelleek and stopped at the Tully Castle.  Tully Castle was built in the early 1600s and had various owners based upon where Ireland and Britain stood.  Actually, when we crossed Beelleek we left Ireland and went into Northern Ireland which uses pounds instead of euros and is under Great Britian. 

We turned back around and left Tully Castle stopping in Beelleek to look at the Beelleek factory.  They have been making beautiful pottery, glass items and dishes since the late 1800s.  We bought a Christmas ornament. We even saw the very special dish they made for the Queen’s Jubilee this past summer. 

Back on the main road we passed Ballentra, Laghey and then into Donegal.  We parked at the car park, by “paying and displaying” then found the Castle Pub to have a late lunch.  I had the best crab salad.  Bc had fish and chips.  We stopped at Paul’s so bc could buy some Irish whiskey.  Here’s a shout out to our brother in law Paul.  And they had the most fun display of sweets!

We checked into our B&B “Island View House.”  It is nice, not up to the standards of which we have had, but still very comfortable.  I had a nap, and bc took pictures of the sunset from our window. 

Later we used our “pay and display” and went into Donegal again for a small bite to eat and listened to some nice piano music. 

This morning the weather is glorious again.  We have had the best weather.  It’s cool, but the rain doesn’t stay long when it does rain. 

Random thoughts:

Donegal won a football championship and it was party time last night!

The Irish people have dialect changes, just as Americans do.  Here on the west side of the country they say “ye” instead of “you.”  How are ye?  Ye be going now?

Google and Yahoo are difficult to use here.  They want us to use Czechoslovakia Google, but then it won’t let us upload pictures.  We’ve had to come up with sneaky ways to get American Google.

Blow dryers are kept under the desk in the main bedroom of our rooms.  There is no electricity in bathrooms.    

We are off to Derry today.  It is another short drive.  Derry is in Northern Ireland, so we will be changing “countries”.  Take care, bc and gc