CÚIG GHRIANGHRAF-Ireland Day 16

Today we had our first full day in County Donegal which sits on a rather large peninsula. After a nice breakfast to begin the day we made our way to Glenveagh National Park to see the landscape and to take a walk to Glenveagh Castle. While the path to the castle was fairly level terrain, the wind was quite brisk and the temperatures remain cool.

The terrain is quite dramatic and glacier carved. We were surprised by the lack of birds or other animals although we enjoyed the landscape which reminded us of alpine meadows in Wyoming.

The castle was a little over four kilometers, and we enjoyed exploring the walled gardens and we had lunch and lattes in the café. The castle was closed for tours, but it was fun to walk around this 19th century edifice.

We opted to take the shuttle bus back to our car to get to our big destination of the day: Slieve League Cliffs. These cliffs are even more dramatic than the Cliffs of Moher, and they're three times as high measuring around 600 meters in altitude. More on that in a few.

One of the stops that we tried to make along the way was to visit the dolmen or portal tomb at Kilclooney in County Donegal, which dates back to around 3500 BC. It consists of two stacked stones with one at an angle over the other. We has difficulty finding the dolmen, and the directions were not clear. We did finally see it from a distance on a hill. Given that we weren't sure if it was ok to wander through private property, we took a photo from a distance instead. I learned after the fact that owners allow visitors to travel on their property.

We then made our way to the Slieve League Cliffs. The route to get to the cliffs was quite spectacular. We were a little startled by a car rolling backwards down a steep slope on the road in front of us. We figured out that a young driver was learning to operate a manual transmission. I had a flashback to my father teaching my mother to operate our 1964 VW Bug by turning off the ignition with my mother at the wheel at a steep hill as my mother yelled expletives at my father, he laughed, and the the kids in the back cried. My mother did recover quickly and navigate it well, but my chikdhood experience gave me instant empathy for the young driver.

On the way we stopped for coffee at a roadside stand. We learned that the vendor, although an Irish native, had lived in Houston for a bit and she loved the experience. We held our tongues about Texas given the political situation there. We did otherwise enjoy our exchange with her. She reminded me a bit of Maureen O'Hara.

We arrived at the visitors parking lot at Slieve League. We assumed that the viewpoint of the Cliffs to be about a few hundred meters up the road. We were dead wrong about that as it turned out that the Cliffs were about a mile or so up a steep stretch of road. Every peak brought disappointment. I kept thinking of the Ginzu Knife commercial "Oh, but wait there's more."
(No explanation for my random brain synapses).

At one part of the journey up, we thought that it was beginning to rain. We realized later that the "rain" was actually the backwards flow of a waterfall due to the very strong winds. At times, the wind did nearly stop the downward flow of the waterfall.

We did finally make it to the observation area and the second parking lot. I griped about that a bit, but we really did enjoy the amazing Cliffs and ocean waves crashing against them below.

We started making our way back down the trek and again facing the steep roads. Ireland is known for its many curses. For example, "May the lamb of God stir his hoof through the roof of heaven and kick you in the arse down to hell."

As we made our way back to the car, and I stared at the steep road in the very blustery day, I pro claimed that the traditional Irish blessing "May the road rise to meet you. May the wind be ever at your back..." should now be demoted to an Irish curse which I solemnized with my middle finger aimed at the road. In my annoyance I offered a loud BAAA at two sheep crossing the road, and both immediately scampered in the opposite direction. I've never been an Alpha Sheep before, and I'm still trying to decide if it's a new form of empowerment.

I really did love the journey though, all bitching aside.

On our journey home, we noticed hundreds of stuffed animals tied to fences and poles. We both thought it was very weird until I discovered on the internet that the gesture is in tribute to a teen who died of leukemia just before reaching her 18th birthday. There is an annual race in her honor that has now expanded to other countries. The stuffed animals are in tribute to children being treated for cancer and in honor of those who have passed. It was really quite moving.

We ended the day with a hearty meal at a dowtown hotel adjacent to the town square where the festival was on its last evening concert performances. A Garth Brooks tribute band was in competition with the restaurant music causing unlikely mash-ups with Rod Stewart, Bruce Springsteen and The Supremes.

It was an eventful day, and I logged a walking record for our trip to date: over 19,000 steps today.

I bid you all a good night with a grateful heart.Read more