Tim & Gerri's Wild Ride
Email & Facebook Gerri:
  • Home
  • Worldwide Travel
    • Eastern Europe 2022 >
      • Eastern Europe 2022 Blog Summary
      • Eastern Europe 2022 Packing List
    • Narrowboat Holiday 2022 >
      • Narrowboat 2022 Blog
      • Narrowboat 2022 Packing List
    • Ireland & UK 2019 >
      • Ireland & UK Itineray
      • Ireland & UK Blog
      • Ireland & UK Blog Summary
      • Ireland & UK Packing List
    • France 2018 >
      • France Itinerary
      • France 2018 Blog
      • Blog Summary
    • European Tour 2017 >
      • European Vacation Blog
      • Blog Summary
    • Southeast Asia 2014-15 >
      • Southeast Asia Blog
      • Packing List
      • Blog Summary
    • Afghanistan 2011-12
  • United States Travel
    • Great Lakes Sail 2020 >
      • Great Lakes Sail 2020 Blog
      • Blog Summary
    • Trans-America Bicycle Ride >
      • Trans-America Bicycle Ride Blog
      • Blog Summary
      • Our Team
      • Equipment
      • Breweries Along Route
    • Pacific Crest Trail >
      • Pacific Crest Trail 2016 >
        • What is the PCT? - 2016
        • Why Hike the PCT? - 2016
        • Gear - 2016
        • Itinerary - 2016
        • Blog - 2016
        • PCT Blog Summary - 2016
        • Where are we now? - 2016
      • Pacific Crest Trail 2014 >
        • What is the PCT?
        • Why Hike the PCT?
        • Gear
        • Food
        • Itinerary
        • PCT Blog
        • Blog Summary
        • Where are we now?
    • Motorcycle Ride 2014 >
      • Motorcycle Blog
  • Brewery Visits
    • 2022 Breweries
    • 2021 Breweries
    • 2020 Breweries
    • 2019 Breweries
    • 2018 Breweries
    • 2017 Breweries
    • 2016 Breweries
    • 2015 Breweries
    • 2014 Breweries
    • 2013 Breweries
    • 2012 Breweries
    • 2011 Breweries
    • 2010 Breweries
    • 2009 Breweries
    • 2008 Breweries
    • 2007 Breweries
    • 2006 Breweries
    • 2005 Breweries
    • 2004 Breweries
    • 2003 Breweries
    • 2002 Breweries

Derry via Drumcliff, Mullaghmore Head, & Donegal

8/30/2019

0 Comments

 

Friday, 30 August 2019

We arranged with the B&B host to eat breakfast at 8:30 AM. We want to get on the road pretty early since we have 3.5 hours of drive plus stops to make on our way to Londonderry, Northern Ireland.  Today we enter a new country, the United Kingdom.

We ate our vegetarian breakfast...did I mention that this B&B is vegetarian?  Then headed out.  It is unfortunately raining, but hopefully it lets up during the times we want to walk around.

​First stop is Drumcliff.  This is where the Nobel Laureate poet William Butler (W.B.) Yeats is buried.  His tombstone is a line from one of his last poems and reads: "Cast a cold eye on life, on death.  Horsemen pass by!"
Picture
W.B. Yeats grave
I really liked the church (St. Columba's Church) on the grounds with a wood and stone interior.
Picture
Picture
We left Drumcliff and continued north.  The travel guide said to detour west and do a loop to Mullaghmore Head.  It was off this coast that on 27 August 1979 the IRA detonated a radio-controlled bomb on the vacation yacht of Lord Louis Mountbatten killing him and his family.  Lord Louis Mountbatten was the second cousin of Queen Elizabeth II.
Picture
After we finished the loop we continued on to Donegal.  The rain picked up and we were hoping it stopped.  We pulled into the parking lot with hopes to walk around town and check out the Donegal Castle.  The rain was pretty relentless.  It wasn't just drizzling, it was full up raining.  Needless to say, we decided to stay in the car and not walk around.  I was a bit sad because photos of the castle looked really cool, but we will be seeing many castles laster in our trip, especially in Scotland.

So, we carried on towards Northern Ireland.  Under 2 hours later we were crossing over the River Foyle and we went from the Republic of Ireland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Picture
Crossing into Northern Ireland
Picture
Mies per hour instead of kilometers per hour
We arrived at our AirBnB in Derry and it was still raining, so we settled in waiting for the rain to stop.  It finally stopped just after 4PM, so we headed out to do a walking tour.  We entered the walled city at Bishop's Gate which will actually be the end of the walking tour.
Picture
Bishop's Gate
We walked though the city until we arrived at the opposite gate (Magazine Gate) where we climbed the stairs to the top of the wall.  This wall, built 1613 - 1618, is still entirely intact.  You can walk the entire 1 mile circuit on top of the wall.

Here are a few photos taken as we walked on the wall.
Picture
Picture
Picture
It then started to rain less than 10 minutes into our walk.  Here we are standing under a tree looking at the First Derry Presbyterian Church.
Picture
The rain continued and started getting harder, so we called off the walk and headed home.  We again waited for it to stop raining and finally after a couple of hours the rain stopped so we headed out for dinner.  I found a restaurant called The Exchange.  It wound up being a really nice place and the food was very good.
Picture
Nice restaurant
After dinner we walked back to the AirBnB.  Tomorrow we are supposed to do a loop drive, but the weather isn't looking too good.  We will make a decision in the morning what to do.  Until then...
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Ireland & UK Home
    Blog summary

    Archives

    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.