Thurs 24 Sept. Moraira to Donegal
An early morning start leaving home soon after 07.00 for a 10.15 flight from Alicante to Dublin. This passed fairly uneventfully until we landed at Dublin. Here we came across a huge problem. We had a long long walk from the plane to the rental car office. However we found that it was no long close to the airport, but at a remote location. So we needed to catch a bus to get to the Hertz car rental office. Here there was a queue, where we waited patiently and then presented our gold card to pick up the car. We had ordered the car a few months beforehand and partly paid for it. Imagine our consternation, indignation, fury at being told that we could not have a car because David was over 80 and their insurance no longer allowed this. Why oh why had they accepted our booking and allowed us to fly to Ireland for a two week holiday. They had David's date of birth on file for over ten years. But all we could obtain from them was “I am very sorry.“ Anyway we were diverted, via another long trek, to another car rental company called Enterprise, where they allowed us to hire one of their cars. At first they said that we would have to wait several hours as they were out of cars but somehow miraculously one appeared.
So we set off in our compact gearshift car to drive the three hours to Harvey's Point Hotel in Donegal. For the first two hours the weather was quite neutral, but by the time we came to Donegal the soft day disappeared and soon turned into a harder day, as the rain fell more heavily. We found the hotel with no problems whatsoever, the GPS functioning well in the car. Another mishap occurred , in that David left his belt in one of the containers going through security, when he was pulled aside for an explosive test of his hands. So we will have to venture further afield tomorrow in search of a new belt to keep his trousers up. We were surprised that the hotel had more than 100 rooms and that we were required not only to book an exact time for dinner in either the bistro bar or restaurant but also an exact time for breakfast.Time slots were 30 minutes apart. Reception told us on the morrow we could not have a 9 am slot. But otherwise the receptionist was quite charming. The room was large and agreeable, overlooking the lake. Albeit trifle grey in its decor. The hotel had a large, pleasant garden, We settled and took a wander round the hotel discovering they did not have a swimming pool, apparently to discourage parents from bringing children. Then a very pleasant Jacuzzi bath before going to the bistro at 7:30 and enjoy enjoying amaretto sour and a Caipirinha, followed by a sausage and mash dish shared between the two of us and then fish and chips also shared between the two of us. We ended with a very long chat to a French student waitress who did not seem to be supervised as she chatted to us for a long time in the restaurant. Then back to the room for a coffee and then a welcome nights sleep.
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Fri 25 Sept. Donegal
We had a lovely window table at breakfast at our designated time of 08.30 (what is the world come to when someone has to choose times for breakfast in a four star hotel? ) The breakfast itself was nothing out of the ordinary for a red star hotel, no home-made cakes or pastries and the fruit juices were not fresh, but we still enjoyed it thoroughly.
We set out in the car around 10 on an overcast morning, but gradually the weather improved and by the afternoon we were into sunshine.. We stopped in Donegal town and bought a replacement belt for David for the one that had got left in airport security. Then we visited the 11th century Donegal Castle once a home of the O’Donnell’s, but taken over by the Protestant Brooke family in 1601 when the Irish Lords were all dispossessed. A descendant of this Brooke family was Basil Brooke, who was prime minister of Northern Ireland from 1943 to 1963. I was very chuffed to use my Meta glasses to read the history of the castle and all descriptions given inside as well.
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Donegal Castle has been restored from this roofless ruin |
..to a very smart building today |
Complete with furniture |
And an elaborate roof |
We then proceeded up the Wild Atlantic Way to Killybegs where we had a brief walk round, this a fishing community with a lot of trawlers in the harbour. Then another stop along the coast at a high vantage point at Malin Beg. All very beautiful with crashing waves. The final stop was where we stopped for a drink and a scone - unfortunately the scone was limp, over microwaved and completely the wrong texture and my hot toddy was just lemon and honey in hot water.
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Killybegs |
Malin Beg |
and its sheep |
Ardara Tea Room with a disappointing scone |
Then a quick way back to Harvey’s Point. Once here I had almost an hour long Siesta. We then had a coffee and smoked salmon sandwich, before going out in the pleasant evening sun for a walk down to the lake, and over a lovers Bridge with padlocks put there the people who had got married here. When we had returned at 4:30 pm, we found the car parks overflowing, due to a wedding reception taking place at about 5 pm: we will wait to see how many of them stay overnight and cause havoc at breakfast!
A good dinner in the restaurant at 8:30 pm, this is their last booking of the evening. This was all we could get, other than 6:30 pm. We thoroughly enjoyed a fish starter, sorbet and then loin of venison between us. Also a passion fruit crème brûlée that was not particularly Brulé. A very likable and Donegal lady served us , but she suffered a bit in the memory department and forgot a lot of the things that we had asked for! A very good day apart from my sleepiness in the middle of it.
Sat 26 Sep Donegal
Another reasonable breakfast with a good view, the baked ham being particularly good - it was cut to order in front of you. We left soon afterwards well before 10 as the weather was forecast to deteriorate during the day. However happily this turned out not to be true, how lucky we were. We headed north up to. Glenties, where we had left the Wild Atlantic Way yesterday. Then we drove further north along the coast with fantastic views at times to Burton Port, from whence a ferry went to the Aran Islands.
Further along the coast we got out at a viewpoint and the wind was quite tremendous and the car door banged onto my leg and gave it yet another bruise. Next port of call was a hamlet which was the home port of a ferry to Tory Island.
Soon after this, we came across the Crolly Whiskey distillery. This had only been open for three years. It was set up by a group of three businessmen with backing from 180 members who had each agreed to pay £6000 for a whole barrel of their whiskey. We were in a Gaelic area where all the signs were in Gaelic and any business setting up got considerable subsidies from the Irish government, who appear to have given them a further one million euros. We saw a film about the distillery which was in Gaelic albeit with English subtitles, but this was of little used to me as I could not read them! Then we were given a tour of the distillery. The building had originally been constructed around 1903 and for several years until 1916 was a carpet factory. It reopened in the 1920s and was a well known doll factory until 1939. Then it had a period of being used for electronics fabrication. It finally closed in the late 1990s, before being converted to this whiskey distillery just three years ago.
It was clearly a business venture to sell tours to tourists, and take adventage of the subsidies that the Irish Government offer businesses in Gaeltachts
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Our guide was not particularly knowledgeable about the distilling procedure but the other seven in the group seems suitably impressed. We ended up being given a small sample bottle of whiskey as we did not wish to drink and drive. We then made the mistake again of eating one of their scones with a cup of coffee. The scones looked really good, but once again they were over-microwaved: I asked for one not to be microwaved and it was obviously about seven days old. We now know not to touch any more scones whilst in Ireland.
We then drove further north to Dunfanaghy and then returned on the quicker inland route back to Harvest Point. Once back in the hotel, we enjoyed a smoked salmon and a ham sandwich before going out for a walk along the road in the opposite direction from that driven several times. We eventually came down to the lake and then turned around and came back again. The weather was remarkably good for all the day apart from about 30 minutes rain in the morning.
Then another Jacuzzi in our huge bath before going down to the bistro. We shared a plate of salmon and then shared a chicken dish, both very agreeable but the noise in the bistro was rather overwhelming with the music turned up so high. We ended the evening with a chat to a Turkish receptionist. Then back to the room for a coffee and a danish pastry.
Sun 27 Sept Donegal
After another good breakfast we stayed in the room till 11.30 as it was pouring with rain. Then we ventured out and went to the Donegal Craft Centre just 15 minutes away but when we got there it was closed on Sundays. But it was no great loss as there was very little there and we were able to view the few shops that were there through their windows.
First stop was Ballyshannon, which claimed to be Irelands oldest town, but had little to commend it other than a magnificent bank building This building was originally constructed as a branch of the Belfast Bank and later became the Royal Bank of Ireland c. 1925. Slater’s Directory of 1894 records that this branch of the Belfast Bank ‘draws on the Union Bank, London’. This present building may have replaced an earlier building used by the Belfast Bank in Ballyshannon as there was apparently a branch in the town from 1869 (location unknown). It, presumably, ceased to be used as a bank in 1966 when the Royal Bank merged with the Provincial Bank (a branch of which was adjacent to the north and is now the Allied Irish Bank.
We then headed south to Bundoran, the 1950s holiday resort of David’s mother’s snobbish friends, who always set out to impress her. But today Bundoran is somewhat rundown, particularly the beach which contained no sand and was bare, seaweed covered rock. We happened upon the European Junior Surf Championships being held there, but they were too far away to really see what was going on. The advertising for the event said "The major international event received backing from Sport Ireland, Fáilte Ireland, and Donegal County Council to spotlight Ireland's infrastructure as a premier coastal and surfing destination."
From there we continued on until we got to Streedagh Beach , where three of the Spanish Armada ships had floundered in extreme gale conditions in 1588. The few sailors that managed to get to the beach were immediately set on by the locals. It was a really nice beach and we had a little walk along it although the wind was quite strong. About 25 Spanish ships were wrecked off the coast of Ireland in 1588. This accounted for roughly half of the total losses suffered by the Armada. Thousands of Spanish sailors and soldiers either drowned or were executed upon landing under the orders of the English Lord Deputy, Sir William Fitzwilliam. Of these 25 wrecks, the Streedagh Strand Wrecks were three large ships— La Lavia, La Juliana, and Santa María de Visón—which were driven simultaneously onto the shallow sandbanks of Streedagh Strand during a ferocious gale on September 25, 1588. Approximately 1,800 men drowned, making it one of the worst single disasters of the campaign. Captain Francisco de Cuellar was one of the few famous survivors, leaving behind a remarkable written account of his escape.
Then onto Rosses Point where we had stayed at the Driftwood in 2019. Here again we went for a little walk along the cliffs and looked down at the beach upon which we had walked along those years ago. Then we headed back stopping at Mullaghmore which had a small Harbour and where we again had another of our little walks.
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Bundoran
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Bundoran Surf Competition |
Mullaghmore |
Rosses Point |
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| Ballyshannon |
Streedagh Beach |
Streedagh Beach |
3 Spanish Armada ships were wrecked on this beach in 1588 |
We arrived back at the hotel by 16.30 . The day had been quite kind to us weather wise. From noon onwards with several bouts of good sunshine although the odd shower too. We had a coffee and ham sandwich in our room and went out again at 18.00 for a walk. However we got hit by a heavy shower, sheltered under some trees, and eventually made a dash back to the hotel.
Another supper in the bistro. The bar was very, very noisy and completely full. We ate in the restaurant , although it had a group of eight and another group of six, it was otherwise not full at all. Ironically we had had to pressure reception to let us eat at 7:30 as they wanted us to eat at 5:30 6.30 or 8.30- absolute nonsense!
Mon 28 Sept. Donegal, Joanna's Birthday, Connemara
We had an early breakfast and left soon after 9.30. David took the opportunity of telling reception and the duty manager what he thought of the cajoling of people into antisocial eating hours.
We then set off to meet up with Joanna at Sloughan Glen. We expected to arrive by 10:40 am but unfortunately a large portion of road was closed and we went round in circles for a long time. We were not able to follow the diversion signs and GPS could not cope, anyway we eventually met up with Joanna and her friend Avril at 11:08 in Drumquin. We should and could been there 23 minutes earlier but they did not seem too worried about it. We then followed Avril's car to her home in the Glen. It was Joanna‘s 52nd birthday and she had come back to the Omagh region after 16 years of absence and about 30 years from having work there.
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A friend of Avril's had built an Airbnb chalet next to her house, which was Joanna's home whilst she was there. This was a delightful compact light house. We first had coffee and cake there and Joanna gave David a a lovely little soft toy called Baby Deer. Plus a poem that she had wriitten about it. We then set off with Joanna to view the lowest waterfall of the Glen not too far at all. Then we went with Avril to her sister Colleen‘s house. Here where they had prepared a special birthday lunch for Joanna and for us and they made a big, big fuss over us. The food was delicious and there were balloons and there was even a birthday cake at the end after some sumptuous dessert. It turned out that Colleen's birthday had also been September 4, like David, so toasts were given all around. It was touching to see how devoted the sisters were to Joanna. They said that she looked exactly the same now as she had when they had last seen her 16 years ago. But all too soon, we had to leave as we had a for our four plus journey to our next destination.
We once again got caught up with the road closure which was over a considerable distance of miles but eventually broke free of this and got to Connemara in about four hours.