Day 5

Started the day driving through the hills of Donegal, working our way to Glenveagh Castle. One pretty church after another.

These two photos were taken one right after another (same church, different angle) yet the light was completely different.


We toured the grounds of Glenveagh and the castle itself, which has an interesting history. It was built in the mid-1800s by John George Adair, a nasty landlord who was happy to turn tenant farmers out of their houses on suspicion of sheep stealing. The final owner was Henry McIlhenny:
"an American connoisseur of art and antiques, world traveler, socialite, philanthropist and the chairman of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.” As you might imagine, Mr. McIlhenny had very good taste, which is on display throughout Glenveagh Castle. Artist Derek Hill, who lived nearby, competed with McIlhenny to show off his home to good effect, leaving us with an abundance of lovely properties to visit.

Bugger. I’m taking photos on my phone at this point and I guess you have to use your phone only right way up, otherwise you get this? I’ve tried rotating it and it still imports upside down.

After Glenveagh, we headed to Horn Head, a loop drive at the northernmost part of the peninsula that offers spectacular views on a really good day. However the heavens opened as we neared the cliffs and our view was not so good. I then did another loop that took us from Dunfanaghy to lovely Marblehead beach. It had just rained heavily and a walk on the beach just wasn’t on. Then south to Letterkenny and across the border to Derry, our home for six years in the 1970s. We had tea with one of my sister’s high school friends, Heather, and Heather’s mom.

This is why I prefer a digital camera to a phone (upside down) or my MacBook (back-to-front).
Then to our lovely hotel next to Butcher’s Gate, one of the gates controlling access to the walled city of Derry. We walked up to Bishop’s Gate for a wonderful dinner, then crawled into bed. Some days of this trip I have covered too many miles and had to negotiate too many car parks (two tonight) and figure out too many things (how to pay for parking, how to use the hotel card to use the elevator). My reserves for handling stress (am I lost? where do I prepay for parking? how do the lights in the hotel room work? how do I get a station wagon in an undersized underground car park space meant for a mini?) are insufficient and I snap. Tonight I was very snappy. Poor mom. My only saving grace is she gets snappy too when she’s stressed or tired so hopefully she recognises I’m a chip off the old block.
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