Julie discovering coins in the carved post.

Lough Croaghballaghdown with blackface lamb in foreground.

Slieve League Cliffs - the highest in Ireland even though it is hard to tell with the fog!

Julie walked this trail to the top. Richard's knees said not today.

Starting to get really cloudy. Time to move on.

The Donegal Castle with the manor house addition.

Richard put this photo in...he likes the dead birds hanging on the wall.😂

That is quite the fireplace and surround!

The Derry Guildhall suffered damage many times during the Troubles.

The organ in the Guildhall was quite impressive!

Having a pint at "the Gainsy" as the locals say. The Gainsborough was est 1729

This looks just like our Boone! It was hanging in the lobby of the Bishop's Gate Hotel.

A view of the Bogside from the wall. This area is mostly Catholic/Irish republicans.

The promenade atop the city walls. You can see 3 of the 22 cannons from the 16th - 18th cen.

Bishop's Gate, one of the original entrances to the city from early 1600's.

Cliffs in the Clouds

May 18, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 66 °F

After leaving our little nest of a cabin, we stopped to enjoy some early morning time at a waterfall, a drive through the mountains on our way to the highest cliffs in Ireland...the Slieve League.

The Assaranca Waterfall flowed into a small pool below. The thing that caught my attention was a post/log that has some fairly detailed carving on it. People had shoved coins into the slits of the wood, but we have no real idea why as, we could not find anything to tell us about the post.

The Slieve League cliffs are twice the height of the Cliffs of Moher. Good thing we went early as the longer we were there, the foggier it got, and more and more people showed up. UGH! Tourists! 😂😉 We weren't able to see the tops of the cliffs due to the fog, but it was still worth the drive out to see it.

We returned to Donegal to see the castle and get a bite of lunch before leaving the Republic of Ireland for Northern Ireland. The city of Derry (per the Rep of Ire) or Londonerry (per Northern Ireland) is a city on the border. This is the Derry in "Derry Girls" for anyone who watched the show. Let me just say the accent from the show is for real!! As "Derry Girls" show, The Troubles (think U2's "Sunday, Bloody Sunday") were fought here as well as in Belfast. You can learn more here: https://www.history.com/news/the-troubles-north…

Derry's history goes back long before The Troubles began, of course. It was the last fully walled city to be built (1613-1618) in Ireland and the only Irish city whose ancient walls are completely intact. The walls were built by the Irish in defense of the early settlers coming in from England and Scotland. We walked all the way around atop the wall - about a mile. A stop was made to take a selfie in front of the "Derry Girls" mural, which can be seen from the city wall. Our walk and our day wrapped up at Bishop's Gate (see photo), one of the four original gates to the city.Read more