DAY-36: Donegal Area
Day – 36: Wednesday, September 27, 2017
Starting Location: Donegal, Ireland
Ending Location: Donegal, Ireland
Today's schedule was simple a shopping and pub visit into Donegal followed in the afternoon with sightseeing along the local seashore.
In Donegal we split up with some headed for shopping while others of us going for a pub. Jack and I found The Old Castle Bar just off the central square.
After the shopping, Pat, Chris and Sheila joined Jack and me for lunch at The Old Castle Bar.
For a coastal drive Mike suggested we drive out onto St. John's Point, a place even he hadn't visited. The road out to the St. John's lighthouse was one-lane and not a real wide lane. Along the way it was raining as we passed through farms with more sheep.
About 1 mile from the point we came bumper-to-bumper with a large truck.
Mike conceded the right-of-way and backed our van for about 1/4 mile until we reached a turnout. Nice driving on a narrow dirt road in the rain with limited visibility. That was as close as we would come to the lighthouse.
Continuing on we drove into Killybegs a fishing port on the west coast. This is big time fishing with a off shore fish processing fleet.
We then returned to the hotel to rest up for our trip into Donegal for pubs and music. We all met in Chris' suite for wine, cheese and fruit. Around 7 PM Mike picked Pat, Jack, Sheila and me up and drove us into Donegal. Our choice for the night was Dom's Pier 1 where Mike joined us for drinks.
I tried to keep up with him but he put away four pints of Guinness before I finished my third. By the way, he wasn't driving us back as he was staying in Donegal. For the night we had a relief driver.
Just kidding of course, we took a taxi back and like so often happens a new story began. We had asked the bartender to get a taxi for us. After ten minutes we walked out but didn't see a taxi so we just waited. Turns out the taxi was unmarked, something like an Uber car. The driver and Sheila and Pat made contact while Jack and I were wandering around.
Marie was our driver and in the 20 minute ride back to the hotel we learned more about family genealogy and the methods of finding family names in the various parishes of Ireland than we would likely ever need. I don't think she stopped talking throughout the entire drive. Actually she was an interesting personality, one we will likely remember regardless of the fact that we had imbibed in the evil beer and whiskeys of Ireland.
Arriving back at the hotel at only 10:30 I thought that a cookie would make for a good night cap. As we passed Diane & Greg's room and then Chris' room we did say goodnight hoping someone would say, oh wait, would you like a cookie but alas, it didn't happen.
Today's schedule was simple a shopping and pub visit into Donegal followed in the afternoon with sightseeing along the local seashore.
In Donegal we split up with some headed for shopping while others of us going for a pub. Jack and I found The Old Castle Bar just off the central square.
After the shopping, Pat, Chris and Sheila joined Jack and me for lunch at The Old Castle Bar.
For a coastal drive Mike suggested we drive out onto St. John's Point, a place even he hadn't visited. The road out to the St. John's lighthouse was one-lane and not a real wide lane. Along the way it was raining as we passed through farms with more sheep.
About 1 mile from the point we came bumper-to-bumper with a large truck.
Continuing on we drove into Killybegs a fishing port on the west coast. This is big time fishing with a off shore fish processing fleet.
I tried to keep up with him but he put away four pints of Guinness before I finished my third. By the way, he wasn't driving us back as he was staying in Donegal. For the night we had a relief driver.
Marie was our driver and in the 20 minute ride back to the hotel we learned more about family genealogy and the methods of finding family names in the various parishes of Ireland than we would likely ever need. I don't think she stopped talking throughout the entire drive. Actually she was an interesting personality, one we will likely remember regardless of the fact that we had imbibed in the evil beer and whiskeys of Ireland.
Arriving back at the hotel at only 10:30 I thought that a cookie would make for a good night cap. As we passed Diane & Greg's room and then Chris' room we did say goodnight hoping someone would say, oh wait, would you like a cookie but alas, it didn't happen.
No comments:
Post a Comment