Day 4

Our hotel in Ballina was on the River Moy, where fly fisherman were out this morning.

On through Sligo to Drumcille, home of Yeats’s grave. The epitaph, from “Under Ben Bulben,” named for the mountain in the distance: Cast a cold eye on life, on death Horseman pass by. Yeats was an interesting mixture of dreamy poet and hard nosed realist.

We stopped at Glencar Lake and Waterfall for a quick snap:

Next stop was Florence Court near Enniskillen. We took a tour of the house, which was fascinating. A good tour guide makes all the difference. My camera ran out of battery at this point. If you go back about two weeks, you will find plenty of photos from Florence Court.
From there, through Enniskillen, with lovely views of Lough Erne on the way to Donegal. In Donegal, visited Magee’s and had a nice tea while waiting for our first rainfall to abate. On to the Gaeltacht, where we had some language barriers. I was looking for a town called Gweedore (that’s what it’s called on Google maps) but, because I went to a Protestant school, I did not know that Gaoth Dobhair is Irish for Gweedore.
From Wikipedia: “Gweedore is known for being a cradle of Irish culture, with old Irish customs, traditional music, theatre, Gaelic games and the Irish language playing a central and pivotal role in the lives of the local people.” Bottom line: I drove through Gaoth Dobhair without realizing that was where we were meant to stay tonight, adding 12 miles RT to today’s long drive. The hotel has a lovely view of Mount Errigal from the pub.

Mom chillin at the hotel:

I should mention that I’m now taking photos on my MacBook, which reverses everything. So you are seeing the name of our hotel in Irish backwards. Good luck with that.
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