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!"
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!"
W.B. Yeats grave
I really liked the church (St. Columba's Church) on the grounds with a wood and stone interior.
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.
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.
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.
Crossing into Northern Ireland
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.
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.
Here are a few photos taken as we walked on the wall.
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.
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.
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...
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