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The cemetery at the Abbey.
The abbey was destoryed by fire 500 years ago, and never rebuilt. This view was taken to show the beauty of the flowered bushes you see evey where. Day 2
We left our lovely Claremont Arms Hotel, after enjoying a free breakfast. The WiFi was also free, and was not throttled, I saw a full 70MB download, and 50MB upload speeds. But enough geek-speek, we are here to see Ireland, and do family research on some ancestors. Mike’s wife Gail has ancestors in Northern Ireland, around Coalisland, Ardboe, Clonoe and other little towns along a very scenic and lovely path to Londonderry.
We stopped as several places, talked with some locals about old cemeteries and parishes where they could have been baptized, married or buried. Unfortunately, many of the written records were destroyed in fires during the periods of unrest, when Dublin and areas around were burned.
We were able to find all the cemeteries, but not all the people we thought might have been in them. We have several pictures of some of the old cemeteries we searched, and didn't post them because I thought that would be morbid, and while we are searching for family, we are enjoying the drive through the peaceful countryside, on small roads, through little towns.
The drive was very peaceful and we were on back roads between the
CountryViews
Such pretty scnery as we drive the roads. Here you can see the moden technology generating electricity with wind, above the famr house. little villages, and homes and farms. We saw sheep, cows and hedge rows between all of the fields, which was really nice. Flying in you could really see the hedge rows and it made the ground look like a green patch work quilt, all sizes and shapes.
We stopped to eat in Moneymore, a small town, considered as a drive-through town by the locals. We saw a Vintage Tea Room, and it looked good so we took a chance and pushed on the door. Online said they were closed, and opened at 5PM, but we tried anyway. The Pub, where they say you can always get good food, was closed, and under construction. And the Fish and Chips place was more a get-it-and-go type of place, with 3 stools at a bar against the window. So Tea Room it was, and so glad we stopped. The owners, Trevor and Irene, have been running it since 2013, and make everything there fresh daily. Desserts were awesome. Food was delicious, and time well spent, with another chance to try and listen and decode the brogue.
From there we continued in the direction of Londonderry for the night. The name of
Sheep - Rams actually seen here
We see lots of sheep along the hills. Green grazing ppastures provide ample grazing. We have seen some with orange paint on the necks, blue, green, 6 to 8 inch dots on their rumps. It is like a brand on a cow, because the owners send them to graze in the fields, and need a way to identify them when they return to gather their own. that town, can start some interesting and heated discussions from what we have found out. If you look in some travel guides, and look up Londonderry, you find “see Derry”. We did see a road sign for Londonderry, with the word “London” painted over to just show “derry”. It seems like the battle is still going on. A journalist was killed here a few weeks ago, and the grafitti posted seemed to try and get the animosities fired up again.
We arrived at Davinci’s Hotel, unpacked, took a quick nap, and went down to the restaurant to eat. We were told they couldn’t take people for 15 minutes and we could wait in the pub. They have menus and we could order and eat in there. So, ok, we will try that. We got a table, in a place that only had about 10 people in it. It was not small, and could hold 10 times that, so we settled in. Ordered our food, and noticed that the place was picking up, and getting crowded. Ah, yes, a futbal game, Barcelona vs Liverpool. We finished eating shortly after half-time was over, and left, because the crowd was exciting and
Lunch at the Tea Room.
Brocolli soup, a foot long hotdog, pre[ared in the local custom and the cup of tea. The hotdog is made loally, fresh daily, as is the soup, desserts, and everything they serve. All delicious. excited.
We settled in for the evening, and had a nice rest. Looking forward to the walking tour tomorrow.
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James Keating
non-member comment
Road Trip
Looks and sounds like a nice little road trip up north.