I had set an alarm just to be safe so we wouldn’t miss the breakfast downstairs. The alarm was needed. We were the last people to arrive for breakfast. After another hearty Irish breakfast, we packed up our things and got back on the road toward the southwest. After a 25 minute drive or so, we stopped off at Benone Beach just to break up the driving a bit. We were one of two cars in the carpark. Whilst the other two ladies ran along the beach with their dog, we were blown away by the wind. Many of these communities in the north become quite popular in the summer evidently, but not today. The temperature was actually the warmest it’s been thusfar, high 40’s. That being said, the wind did quite a number on us, and our time at the beach was brief.
We continued on until we got to the city of Derry, or Londonderry, whichever side you support I suppose. Derry is the only place in Northern Ireland I had previously visited when I came with my family back in 2002. Back then, there were military helicopters and multiple police checkpoints with armored cars. A large radio mast stood over the old city walls. When I was there this time around, none of that existed. The whole city was quite sleepy looking in fact. Not that many people were out. We parked along the street near the bogside, the same location that is known for the “Sunday Bloody Sunday” massacre back in the 70s when British troops fired upon civilian protesters. Large murals still canvas the buildings and numerous. From there we walked up the hill toward the city center and walked along the old city walls for a while before turning back. It seemed like all the shops were closed and not a lot was going on. Despite the two sides being at peace for some time now, their loyalties are still very clear. Curbs along the streets are painted red, white, band blue if favorable to the United Kingdom, and green, white, and orange if they favor unification with the Republic of Ireland. Graffiti promoting the IRA is nearly everywhere, despite it pretty much falling into irrelevance. To be fair, anxieties are a bit heightened as of late due to Brexit; and a recent car bomb last month led some to believe that it could spiral into a renewed conflict. From what I gather however, neither side has any desire for that to happen again.
After Derry, we drove to County Donegal. I didn’t notice we had crossed any sort of country border until I saw a sign that was in kilometers per hour. Northern Ireland posts in miles per hour you see. Perhaps this may change in the future, but as of right now, it was one of the most fluid borders I’ve ever crossed. There is more of a checkpoint between Arizona and California than between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. It was some difficult driving through Donegal with very winding and often narrow roads. Whereas previously I would say that all of Ireland can be summarized be green rolling fields and sheep, the landscape suddenly changed to nothing I had ever seen in Ireland before. There were mountains on either side of us and large pine tree forests flanked the road. It was almost like driving through Germany or Austria. We reached our cottage, an entire house that Nicole found on Air BnB around 4pm. We are in a very isolated area with very spotty cell service and no wifi. The houses are few. Our neighbors on one side are a family that knits sweaters and our neighbors to the other side are sheep. Our hosts who greeted us with tea and buttered bread told us that Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker recently bought a house. We walked down to a nearby beach from our cottage and could see a large house looming above on the nearby hills. We assumed it was theirs. It must sure be a lot of effort for them to get here, but the scenery is pretty amazing.
County Donegal is known as being the “forgotten county” of Ireland. Tour groups don’t seem to come here, and at the same time, I think it would be impossible. The roads we took to get where we are now only have space for one car, though they are meant for two-way traffic. Luckily there wasn’t much traffic, but it does get a bit awkward when you see an oncoming car and there’s a cliff to your left and a giant stone hedge to your right. There is no such thing as a shoulder. For a bus it would be impossible. In our tiny Toyota Aygo hatchback, we still barely had the turning radius to make it around some of the sharp turns, so I can’t envision any buses coming through here any time soon. As the sun continued to go down, I recalled seeing a good viewpoing a few kilometers back up the road that had a good view overlooking the peninsula. Now, it didn’t have a formal viewpoint as it was on the aforementioned road, but there was a slightly warn area in the grass to one side of the road that was just wide enough to be off the road. We “parked” there. From this spot, I set my little tripod up on top of our car and was able to take some pictures of the fantastic landscape laid our before us. Perhaps the most remarkable part about it all was the total lack of other tourists. We continued down the road a short ways until we got to a place called Muckros Head, where people would normally hike, climb, or have a picnic, but it was deserted. From there we watched the waves and sea spray crash into the nearby peninsula. It was an enjoyable reward for all of the stressful driving.
We ate dinner in “town” (15 minute drive away) at a pub. I had the usual fish-and-chips washed down with a pint of Guinness. There is something markedly different about the way it is poured here and it’s like drinking an entirely different beer than a Guinness one would order back in the U.S. After dinner, we grabbed some items for breakfast at a small market, drove back to our cottage on the pitch black roads, threw some logs into our fireplace, and enjoyed the rest of our evening without Wi-Fi.
We continued on until we got to the city of Derry, or Londonderry, whichever side you support I suppose. Derry is the only place in Northern Ireland I had previously visited when I came with my family back in 2002. Back then, there were military helicopters and multiple police checkpoints with armored cars. A large radio mast stood over the old city walls. When I was there this time around, none of that existed. The whole city was quite sleepy looking in fact. Not that many people were out. We parked along the street near the bogside, the same location that is known for the “Sunday Bloody Sunday” massacre back in the 70s when British troops fired upon civilian protesters. Large murals still canvas the buildings and numerous. From there we walked up the hill toward the city center and walked along the old city walls for a while before turning back. It seemed like all the shops were closed and not a lot was going on. Despite the two sides being at peace for some time now, their loyalties are still very clear. Curbs along the streets are painted red, white, band blue if favorable to the United Kingdom, and green, white, and orange if they favor unification with the Republic of Ireland. Graffiti promoting the IRA is nearly everywhere, despite it pretty much falling into irrelevance. To be fair, anxieties are a bit heightened as of late due to Brexit; and a recent car bomb last month led some to believe that it could spiral into a renewed conflict. From what I gather however, neither side has any desire for that to happen again.
After Derry, we drove to County Donegal. I didn’t notice we had crossed any sort of country border until I saw a sign that was in kilometers per hour. Northern Ireland posts in miles per hour you see. Perhaps this may change in the future, but as of right now, it was one of the most fluid borders I’ve ever crossed. There is more of a checkpoint between Arizona and California than between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. It was some difficult driving through Donegal with very winding and often narrow roads. Whereas previously I would say that all of Ireland can be summarized be green rolling fields and sheep, the landscape suddenly changed to nothing I had ever seen in Ireland before. There were mountains on either side of us and large pine tree forests flanked the road. It was almost like driving through Germany or Austria. We reached our cottage, an entire house that Nicole found on Air BnB around 4pm. We are in a very isolated area with very spotty cell service and no wifi. The houses are few. Our neighbors on one side are a family that knits sweaters and our neighbors to the other side are sheep. Our hosts who greeted us with tea and buttered bread told us that Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker recently bought a house. We walked down to a nearby beach from our cottage and could see a large house looming above on the nearby hills. We assumed it was theirs. It must sure be a lot of effort for them to get here, but the scenery is pretty amazing.
County Donegal is known as being the “forgotten county” of Ireland. Tour groups don’t seem to come here, and at the same time, I think it would be impossible. The roads we took to get where we are now only have space for one car, though they are meant for two-way traffic. Luckily there wasn’t much traffic, but it does get a bit awkward when you see an oncoming car and there’s a cliff to your left and a giant stone hedge to your right. There is no such thing as a shoulder. For a bus it would be impossible. In our tiny Toyota Aygo hatchback, we still barely had the turning radius to make it around some of the sharp turns, so I can’t envision any buses coming through here any time soon. As the sun continued to go down, I recalled seeing a good viewpoing a few kilometers back up the road that had a good view overlooking the peninsula. Now, it didn’t have a formal viewpoint as it was on the aforementioned road, but there was a slightly warn area in the grass to one side of the road that was just wide enough to be off the road. We “parked” there. From this spot, I set my little tripod up on top of our car and was able to take some pictures of the fantastic landscape laid our before us. Perhaps the most remarkable part about it all was the total lack of other tourists. We continued down the road a short ways until we got to a place called Muckros Head, where people would normally hike, climb, or have a picnic, but it was deserted. From there we watched the waves and sea spray crash into the nearby peninsula. It was an enjoyable reward for all of the stressful driving.
We ate dinner in “town” (15 minute drive away) at a pub. I had the usual fish-and-chips washed down with a pint of Guinness. There is something markedly different about the way it is poured here and it’s like drinking an entirely different beer than a Guinness one would order back in the U.S. After dinner, we grabbed some items for breakfast at a small market, drove back to our cottage on the pitch black roads, threw some logs into our fireplace, and enjoyed the rest of our evening without Wi-Fi.
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