Blogs from Donegal, County Donegal, Ireland, Europe

Depart portnoo at 10.30 and arrived aranmore 17.30 . we covered 15miles in 7 hrs...the day began almost too well in bright sunshine. we raced along at 6kknts towards the tip of Aranmore in a northern breeze. From the southern tip of Aranmore to Tory is only 20 miles we decided to continue about 8 miles west so that when we tacked we could make tory.As we headed west the wind freshened to a good force 5 and the wind veered NE. this sank our hope of making tory. we decided to make for Aranmore instead. for hour after hour we beat into the NE wind b4 rounding the northern end of the island, picking up the transits and finding some visitor moorings sth of calf island. Sally had her hand on the tiller for 7 ... read more

As the last of the visiting Americans departed the pristine coach, I watched as one by one they ambled towards the waiting craft shop and tea rooms, where piped Irish music reminded them that they had made it to the heritage town of Aradra, which sits on the edge of the Atlantic in Donegal, Ireland. The coach arrives each day during Summer, with different passengers of course, although mandatory name tags give away the fact that they are on a pre planned holiday. With limited time, they purchase the Arran jumpers on display and many look over at the nearby bars, but opt instead for the tea and scones on offer. On a a few occasions I have seen a few brave souls waltz into the heart of town, ignoring the craft shop and finding themselves ... read more

(From Notes left on the carving of a hooded hawk/human fashioned by the Poet, Wood Carver, Human Trove of Gaelic Lore and World Class Storyteller Michael Quirke) DOWA-COO Where is wisdom to be found? Irish File (Fill-leh: Poet Seer) answers: "LOOK WITHIN"... here in Sligo Sycamore Hero as hawk flies into the heart of darkness, seizes CnoFeaso- nut of wisdom in Aidlind Ashling Dream Vision... Exits with dream intact on the obverse Dowa-Coo Darkwet hound Powers: Salmon of Wisdom Aswim into consciousness... 50/50 Linseed on Turpentine mix and brush Michael Quirke (PS Michael was describing the themes he has carved into his figure of the Dowar Coo. Some of his notes were in Gaelic, and there's no way I could transpose them.) At Temple House, outside of Sligo, near the ruins of an 11c templar castle, ... read more

I found three poems at Steve Kuusisto's blog today. I have been STARVING for poetry lately, and this helps so much! I love Yeats. Kate has family up in Donegal, and we've been there several times. Outside of Sligo I visited Yeats' grave; and even though I was formerly a "horseman" (well I had horses and sheep) I didn't pass by, I stayed there a long time. In Sligo I met an amazing guy, Michael Quirke, who has status in Ireland as a legendary storyteller. He used to be a butcher. Out of some semi-conscious artistic imperative he began carving figures and figurative stories into the meat: there was Fionn Mac Cumoill; Mauve; the Salmon of Wisdom; Neam and Bran and Oisin... and most fearsomely of all, a hooded falcon/human. One day someone said, "Michael, why ... read more

We are currently making our way back towards London, and then we will fly home on February 7th. We left Cork for Sligo which is in the Northern part of the Republic of Ireland. There is some beautiful scenery there, mountains, ocean, and some viking princesses buried there. We couldn't do too much without a car. We went to the Belleek factory and saw how it is made. We went to Carrick which is in Donegal. We wanted to see Slieve League and the Bunglas cliffs, which are the tallest sea cliffs in Europe. The weather was alright, the view was amazing and the sheep were plenty. Then we went to Portrush, not the most cosmopolitan place, more run down. It must be better in the summer. We went to Bushmills and sampled the whiskey, still ... read more

So with Cheryl here and all, we decided we would do the fastest tour of Ireland ever. To any travelers thinking of seeing as much as Ireland as possible in a short amount of time, this would be the way to go. Day 1: We started out the morning in Galway, exploring a bit of town and being extremely frustrated that our favorite bagel and coffee shop was not open (Cher became instantly obsessed with the 2nd best Chai Lattes in the world). Our first stop was the Blarney Castle, so with all three of us piled into our beast of a Volvo that the Budget car rental place gave us, we were off. As all car rides go, we sang, we laughed, and we invented car games. Cheryl and Brian invented “Slug Bug Castle.” Basically ... read more