Rain, rain, rain. Oh, did I mention rain?

I love Ireland, but would I pack up and move here?  Nope, not on your life.  People keep saying that this year the weather has been worse than usual, but they also say that it always rains and is usually cloudy most of the time.  I can't stand being in Sacramento during the two winter months we are there because of the gloom so I can't even imagine living in a place where it is cloudy 80% of the time.  But, of course, that is why Ireland is called the Emerald Isle.  The green here is like an emerald color everywhere you look.  There is never a brown spot to be seen unless it is a field that has just been plowed.  Everything is lush and full.  Now on to our journey.

Like I said in the title - the last two days it rained almost the whole time.  Not a downpour all the time, but drizzle one minute, rain the next, then a downpour next.  Needless to say it dampened our ability to do a lot of walking without the umbrella.  But being the intrepid travelers we are, we solidered on.  After leaving the Giant's Causeway (wasn't that a cool place to see?) we continued on to Londonderry for the night.  But before we arrived at Derry we just had to stop at Malin Head.  That is the northernmost point of Ireland.  So we went as far as we can in Ireland on this trip.

Now Londonderry is very unusual place because it is divided by a river and on one side it is called Derry and the other side is called Londonderry .  Unfortunately we didn't explore the city at all because it was rained too hard by the time we got there. But we stayed in a beautiful old B&B for the night.  It was built in 1897 and is divided in half where one side is a B&B with 3 bedrooms and the other side is the private residence.  The hosts, Michael and Ann, were great!  They welcomed you like you were family.  That's the way to run a B&B!

The next morning it was still raining (surprise!) and we motored down to Donegal town.  What we are trying to do whenever we can is take a coastal route to see the west coast of Ireland and today was no exception.  After checking into our hotel we grabbed the umbrella and off we went.  We explored the town as much as we could with the rain then returned to the hotel to grab a pint and some dinner.  This hotel was a very modernistic one.  It's called The Glasshouse and the front is covered in glass.  It really looks out of place in this old Irish town, but it was comfortable - except that our room was lime green!


Anyway, the next morning it was drizzling, but we decided to visit the Donegal Castle which was just up the road from the hotel.  Our trip to the next town was a very short time so we had to try and  waste time.  But the castle was a very cool place to see.  It was lived in until the late 1600's when the owner was given a different piece of land farther down south which he decided to move his family too.  Him and part of the roof too!  It seems during those times there was what was called a roof tax and when you had a roof put on your house you were taxed for the amount of roof you used (go figure).  Anyway the owner took part of the castle's roof to put on his new house and that left the castle pretty much open to the elements for over 300 years.  When the trust took it over in the 1980's they replaced the roof and started restoring the castle.  Part of it is still without a roof.  I also had to include this picture of a 17th century toilet.

We stopped in Sligo that night and found out that this town really loves W.B. Yeats.  They even have a statue in the center of town for him.  He was born in Dublin, but spent his childhood holidays there all the time.

THE CELTIC TWILIGHT

by

W. B. YEATS





    Time drops in decay
    Like a candle burnt out.
    And the mountains and woods
    Have their day, have their day;
    But, kindly old rout
    Of the fire-born moods,
    You pass not away.

The next day was partly sunny with very little rain (yay!!!!!)  Off we went to our next stop which was Westpot.  One the was there we stopped at a place called Ceide (Kayja) Fields.  It is a neolithic site that has been excavated to discover the walls and dwellings of people who lived in Ireland over 6,000 years ago.  The picture below shows the ring of what was once a residence.  They have discovered that there are stone walls in this field alone that cover 135 acres!  But they have also  discovered more walls and tombs as far away as 45 miles to the south and 20 miles to the north.  It is a huge field. 

Westport was once a sea port, but has since turned into a tourist town.  The shops are quaint and the pubs are plentiful with music filling the streets.  Tomorrow we are off to Clifden.