Blogs from Donegal, County Donegal, Ireland, Europe

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Europe » Ireland » County Donegal » Donegal August 6th 2022

Ireland the North 2. Day 8. Donegal A day in Donegal lounging about for some and learning about its heritage. A visit to the castle was very rewarding and I can recommend at €4 for a pensioner. The castle was built in 1841 by Red O’Donnell who was a descendant of a man called Domhnaill who died in 901. The castle was later given to an English soldier, Basil Brooke, as a reward after the 9 years war in 1601. He restored the castle which had lain in ruins having been destroyed by the O’Connells to keep it from the English. It later lay in a ruined state again until the 1990’s when it was partially restored to its former glory. The timber structure of the roof is a real work of art. The O’Donnell ruling ... read more
Castle .
Donegal castle roof.
Donegal Priory

Europe » Ireland » County Donegal » Donegal August 2nd 2022

TUE, 02 AUG 2022 – “Day 3: History of Londonderry and the mighty scenery of Donegal - After the Full Irish, (cooked breakfast) we’ll take on a walking tour of the city, its bog-side murals and its 6th century, monastic past. The Hills of Donegal are calling and after a jaw opening drive over the Glengesh Pass, we’ll visit the Assaranca Waterfall. Last stop for the day is Ardara in the Gaeltacht, (Irish speaking area) a cosy village which is home to the famous ‘Cup of Tea Festival’; a homage to the traditional Irish reel which alludes to the cheeky drop of Poitín added to your tea. Before we ‘lay our hat’, we might try the local Portnoo crab, before hitting Nancy’s on Front Street, to learn a "cúpla focal" (few words of Irish) and down ... read more
Walking Tour of Derry, Northern Ireland, UK
Walking Tour of Derry, Northern Ireland, UK
Walking Tour of Derry, Northern Ireland, UK

Europe » Ireland » County Donegal » Donegal June 4th 2022

Ireland Saturday Donegal town. Great weather for our rest day, sunny and warm. The walk along the riverbank of the Eske is worth doing with a good view of the Friary across the river and the estuary and plentiful information of the trees and wildlife. I can also recommend the Tipperary boat which does a circuit around the estuary and islands with an excellent running commentary which is very clear and concise. We saw the old ticket office where people assembled for their trip to America in the times of the great famine. Only a third made it there, dying of hunger and disease. The Railway Museum is quite small but still worth a visit at 5 Euros. A good live Irish band was playing in the Diamond Square, which was a chance to soak up ... read more
River Eske walk
Donegal Friary
Fordson Major .

Europe » Ireland » County Donegal » Donegal June 2nd 2022

Ireland Friday Donegal Last night I had a walk along the Garavogue riverbank behind the hotel in amazing sunny conditions, a marked contrast to the weather when we arrived. I circled back along some quite run down streets with businesses and bars closed down. Having said that the city itself is very vibrant and full of people in the move. We got away under an overcast sky with occasional sun on pleasant roads to our first stop at the nice Jam Pot cafe in Grange. The scenery,whilst nice,was not as outstanding as previous days with green countryside of beef cows and sheep. The route was rolling and away from main roads as much as possible with occasional meanders around the coast. At one point there were three men fishing in a fast flowing estuary, one of ... read more
Sunset in Sligo
Street mural
The power of Guinness

Europe » Ireland » County Donegal » Donegal August 30th 2019

Up early because today we will cover a lot of ground. Buffet breakfast at the hotel and then on the coach, heading north. We drive through a sizeable town, Larne, then a series of smaller, extremely picturesque towns. Most of them have "bally" (town), "glen" (valley), "lough" (lake), or "castle" in their names. The weather is very changeable. Violent blasts of rain alternate with brief sunny periods. The force of the wind may be felt inside the coach. We take a detour to visit Glenariff Forest Park. This beautiful 1185-hectare park has several mountains and two small rivers that cascade through narrow gorges on their way to the sea. The coach climbs to the summit of a mountain where there are great views of the surrounding landscape. Walking trails lead off in several directions. And there's ... read more
Grey Squirrel hotline
House and rope bridge
Northern coast

Europe » Ireland » County Donegal » Donegal July 17th 2016

The plan was to head across the top of Ireland to see the Giants Causeway, drop in for a drop if possible at Bushmills Distillery, roll on along to Malin Head – the northernmost point on the island – and start the journey down the Wild Atlantic Way. To date we have seen the part of Ireland that is beautiful with green fields, hedges or stone walls, attractive villages, recently painted houses with neat gardens and old pubs. The drive along the Antrim coast gave some hints, and the Giants Causeway was our introduction to the spectacular, magnificent and very interesting part of Ireland that is its sea and wild landscape along part of the north and the west. If I try to give it a description that it deserves I run the risk of using ... read more
Our guide
Cushendun
De-e-rrr!

Europe » Ireland » County Donegal » Donegal June 11th 2015

After being thoroughly spoilt by Lynne for breakfast we said goodbye and headed off to Knock, which was just down the road. “The Story of Knock began on the 21st August, 1879 when, at approximately 8 O’ clock in the evening, fifteen people from the village of Knock in Co. Mayo, witnessed an Apparition of Our Lady, St. Joseph, St. John the Evangelist, a Lamb and cross on an altar at the gable wall of the Parish Church. The witnesses watched the Apparition in the pouring rain for two hours, reciting the Rosary. Although they themselves were saturated not a single drop of rain fell on the gable or vision. There were fifteen official witnesses to the Apparition, most of whom were from the village of Knock and surrounding areas and ranged in age from just ... read more
Basilica Knock
Basilica Knock
Basilica Knock

Europe » Ireland » County Donegal » Donegal May 18th 2015

Geo: 54.66, -8.12Après avoir passé deux jours dans le comté, une question subsiste : qui du paysage ou du temps est le plus versatile ? Le paysage, il passe de superbe à magnifique, d'une lande sèche (même sous la pluie) où rien ne pousse à des prés verdoyants et, sans transition, à un bord de mer tantôt de plage de sable, tantôt de rochers ou de falaises sur lesquels s'écrasent les écueils d'un océan agité.Sans rapport avec le paysage, mise à part la luminosité qu'il lui transmet, le temps change continuellement, plusieurs fois par heure la pluie fait son apparition, à force variable, avantde laisser place au soleil et à des nuages de toutes sortes. Tout cela ne serait bien sûr pas possible sans un fort vent d'ouest emp... read more
Des lagomorphes
Jaune vert et gris, couleurs récurantes...
Une mer un brin agitée

Europe » Ireland » County Donegal » Donegal June 15th 2013

Hello!Today we left Sligo and headed for Donegal. When we got to Donegal we had a walking tour. We learned about the history of the town. That was pretty interesting. It was a fairly small town. The tour did not take long. We saw a couple of churches, a castle, and an old school. The school had one class downstairs and the teacher lived upstairs. When the tour was over we went to the castle and looked around. That was cool. It was small, so it didn't take long to go through it. After the castle we went to lunch and then shopped for a little bit before we had to go to our next place. We went to these beautiful cliffs called Slieve League Cliffs. The walk up to the cliffs was brutal but the ... read more
Sunset at 10:30

Europe » Ireland » County Donegal » Donegal June 2nd 2013

Day 6, 7 & 8 Arrived at Loughe Eske. What a beautiful setting, not just for weddings! I could spend a few days walking around to recharge my batteries, but now all the wedding celebrations are on the roll, and we still get to enjoy the area around Loughe Eske in all its splendour. Rowan and Sadhbh will share their vows in St Agatha's Church, Clar, Donegal Town and the reception will be at Harvey's Point on the edge of the lake. The B&B that we are staying at, Ardeevin, overlooks the lake, with such a glorious view. The breakfast was truly scrumptious and should keep us going throughout the day until we have dinner at the wedding reception. If in need of a romantic getaway in Ireland - this is the place. The rooms are ... read more
Loughe Eske
Another great view
Their own number plate




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