Highlights

Donegal: The Forgotten Land Part VI

This morning is dedicated to the city that gives us a bed to sleep on, Letterkenny.
This city doesn’t give its name to the region nor is it its capital, despite it is the most populated and in fact the real commercial center of the county.

Walking around Letterkenny

This city was already important in the 17th century and was one of the centers to suffer the most from the Great Irish Famine of 1845 before becoming, in the early 1900s, a real “Town” with its own city council.
The name Letterkenny comes from the Gaelic Leitirceanainn meaning “Hill of the O’Cannons”.

Letterkenny Cathedral
Letterkenny Cathedral

Its current form is also due to the retreat of the Atlantic waters to the east, which allowed the construction of bridges and thus the expansion of the city itself.
Let’s go first to visit the Cathedral of St Eunan and St Columba which is located in the place where, in 1625, the city castle was built, of which there is no more trace.

Interior of Letterkenny Cathedral
Cathedral interior

The Cathedral was built in 1890 in the Victorian neo-Gothic style.
Leaving aside the boring description of styles, there is one thing that strikes me: the stone used to build it came by sea from Mountcharles (located in the southernmost part of the county) and the citizens carried large buckets full of sandstone by hand from the harbour to here.
The windows instead come from Munich!

The children of the Hiring Fair

In the square just below the cathedral there is a statue that cannot go unnoticed, children dressed in rags.
This sculpture by Maurice Harron is reminiscent of the “Hiring Fair”, literally: the hiring fair, which was held once a year since the English settled in the Ulster region (1606).
It was in this square that the wealthiest farmers of the city of Lagan (and also of the neighboring county of Tyrone) came looking for children to take to work on their farms for the season.
The children and young people, some as young as 8 years old, were taken to Letterkenny on foot by their parents and given up “rent” for six months.
Among them, males would work in the fields while females as domestic servants for six and a half days a week living with their employers.

The children of the Hiring Fair in Letterkenny
The children of the Hiring Fair

The parents were not paid until the end of the six months, this was to prevent the children from fleeing early to return home.

Doe Castle, but first, breakfast!

Pancakes in Letterkenny
Yummy Pancakes

The stomach mumbles, we haven’t had breakfast yet.
Looking for a comfortable place to sit I come across the Honeypot Coffee House, with its eccentric and pretty interior.
I order some excellent pancakes with blueberries and cream while Matteo takes the savory version, with bacon.
Let’s say that the plating of Matteo’s is “artistic”, not very functional perhaps, but the taste is definitely excellent!
Curiosity! Did you know that pancakes are not born in America?
Yes, back in 500 a.C in Greece, two playwrights: Cratinus and Magnete, mention a special dessert.
This delicacy is based on water, olive oil and flour, it is round and served with honey right during breakfast.
The Greeks called it teganites, a reference to the type of pan used to prepare them.

Doe Castle
View of Doe Castle

Doe Castle is located in the beautiful cove of Sheephaven and is a medieval stronghold that belonged to the MacSweeney.
The term Doe comes from the Gaelic tuath, which means “territory”.
The original fortress was built in 1420 and for almost 200 years was the refuge of 13 heads of the family.
Many things have happened within these walls: Eoghan Og, for example, gave refuge, in 1588, to the survivors of the Spanish Armada while the last chief of the castle, Maolmhuire an Bhata Bhui, marched with Red Hugh O’Donnel in the famous battle of Kinsale in 1601.
We cannot enter, unfortunately it is closed at the moment; another thing to add to our list for the next trip to Donegal.

Under the sign of WAW
Under the sign of WAW

Rosguill Peninsula and the Legend of Goll

From the castle to the Rosguill Peninsula the journey is short. In this peninsula you can breathe the dichotomy between heath and ocean.
On one side we find the gentle waters and beaches of Sheephaven, on the other the treacherous sandbanks of Mulroy Bay.
In between, a mixture of peat bogs, hills and pastures, the ancient walls and other various testimonies of fortifications tell us that this area has been inhabited since ancient times.
Almost 800 people live on the peninsula and 33% of them speak Gaelic as their first language, an impressive number!
The name Rosguill derives from Ros Goill “promontory of Goll”; but who was Goll?
Goll mac Morna was a member of the Fianna (the legendary warriors of Ireland) and killed the father of Fionn mac Cumhaill (another legendary warrior of mythology).
Fionn in turn killed him and took revenge.
This legendary killing is said to have taken place on a rock called Carraic Ghoill, and that’s where the name Rosguill comes from!
I make it short but: first of all there are many versions for each legend and then just to have a sketch of an idea you need a lot of research, then these stories are long!
The weather is kind today so let’s take a quick tour.
The landscape is beautiful, even when viewed through the windshield.

Rosguill
Rosguill

At school with stilts

Passing over the Harry Blaney Bridge (which in 2009 reduced from 30 min to only 5min the time needed to go from one peninsula to another) we begin the ascent of the next peninsula, the Fanad peninsula.
Attracted by the WAW signals we stop at the “Island Roy View” view point.
On the surface it looks like just a classic view of Ireland but the panel tells us an interesting story.

Irish Bridge
A bridge with an unusual shape for Ireland
Roy Island
Roy Island

Roy Island is known by the inhabitants simply as “the island”.
On this tiny piece of land once farming, fishing, seaweed breeding and exporting crustaceans to London were the jobs to do.
The really curious thing that surprised me a lot is that the doctors and the boys used to go to school on the mainland using stilts!

I recently discovered that in Vietnam some children are put in plastic bags while their parents are crossing a river (so their good clothes, those for school, are not ruined).
This makes us reflect on what the poorest peoples are willing to do to guarantee better opportunities for their children.
And we complain for a few minutes by train or bus!

I saw seals!

Ballyhiernan Bay is an incredible discovery, we arrive here looking for a geocache called Seal and guess what, we find a lot of seals!!!
Wait Giulia, what is a geocache?
Eh, Eh… Geocaching is a passion and fun that deserves to be explained.
In short, it is a treasure hunt, where instead of having the paper map you use GPS to hide or find small (or large) containers called “caches”.

Ballyhiernan Bay
Ballyhiernan Bay

But to find out something more, read this ad hoc article.
Returning to the seals, they are beautiful, they continue to emerge and look at us curiously, I came to count seven of them!
Unfortunately, since there was high tide we couldn’t see them relaxing on some rocks.
I leave this advice for you: if you want to admire them in all their “banana” splendor, arrive at Ballyhiernan Beach at low tide.

The sunken treasure of Fanad Head

The last stop for today is Fanad Head and its beautiful lighthouse.
Built on a rocky promontory, it stands to defend the peninsula.
When the light hits the rocks and the white of its walls, the view is magnificent.
The area is regularly visited by whales, porpoises and dolphins, we have not seen them but if you are among the lucky ones send me a bunch of beautiful photos!

Fanad Head
Fanad Head

This lighthouse may seem modern but in reality it was lit for the first time on March 17, 1817.
It was built after the sinking of HMS Saldanha in 1811.
The only survivor was the ship’s parrot, which wore a silver collar engraved with the ship’s name.
The light of the lighthouse could be seen from a good 22km away with clear skies!
If you love diving here can be a good place to try your luck!
History tips: In 1917 the SS Laurentic, one of the most technologically advanced ships of the British fleet, struck two mines sinking and taking with it not only 300 lives, but also its important cargo: 3211 gold bars!
You will not find all this treasure, most of it has been recovered but… 22 ingots are still missing.

Do you feel like trying your luck?

Fanad Head
Happy faces at Fanad Head

Surreal evening walk

Portsalon Beach is a very long strip of sand that lights up at sunset thanks to the thin veil of water that remains when the tide recedes.
It seems to walk on water, it is relaxing, it gives me a feeling of incredible calm.
While Matteo enjoys doing his filming I relax watching the lights of the houses slowly turn on and reflect in the sea and on the sand.
If you love photography this place is absolutely to put on your list.

The end

Like every good story, this little adventure of ours has come to an end.
But let us not abandon Donegal without paying our respects to its lord, Mount Errigal!
Legend tells that the name was given to it by Fir Bolg who, originally from Greece, came to worship the Errigal as in his homeland Mount Olympus was worshipped.
The name derives from the Latin ” orare ” and from the Greek ” ekklesia” that is church.

Errigal
towards Errigal
Errigal
The climb

At 751m, it is the highest in the county and is part of the Seven Sisters.
The Seven Sisters are a mountain range on which in May the best athletes compete running for 55km!
The total difference in height is only 2100m, would you feel it?

Joking aside (although people really run up these mountains) let’s talk about things that ordinary mortals can do like getting to the top of Errigal.
The climb may seem intimidating, but we did not find it particularly difficult to climb.
Parking on the R251, if you manage to overcome the first stretch of bog (the Irish swamp) you are already halfway in terms of physical effort.
Precisely because of this initial “impediment”, if the day is dry the climb will be easier, the ground will be less muddy.
UPDATE 2022: they have created a platform just to make this first stretch easier, now you have no more excuses!

The Seven Sisters seen from Errigal
The Seven Sisters

The ascent, the summit and the hail

View from Errigal
The sun is swallowed inexorably

As we climb with us the wind rises as well, we have gone through the four seasons during the ascent.
At the beginning we find a beautiful warm sun.
Halfway up the climb comes the clouds.
On the way back, rain and hail greet us.
The Errigal spares us nothing!

Fortunately, the weather doesn’t take away the magic of the view from the summit.
Even if the sky is not clear we can see the ocean and all the Seven Sisters.
If the weather conditions are favorable you might even be able to take a picture of the mountain illuminated by the “Green Lady”, the Aurora Borealis!
Another popular place to photograph this wonder is Dunlewey Lough.
In its waters the aurora is reflected and the sunset can be the perfect time for a wonderful shot as the mountain turns pink thanks to quartzite.
In the valley where you are taking this photo, an epic battle has taken place, do not forget it.

On the top of Errigal
The summit

The Legend of Balor

The contenders were: Lugh (king of the Tuatha de Danaan) and Balor of the evil eye.
A druid’s prophecy predicted to Balor that he would be killed by his nephew.
For peace of mind, Balor imprisoned his only daughter, Eithne, in a stone tower on Tory Island.
With her he put twelve women in charge of never telling Eithne what a man was.
They were tasked with making sure the girl never knew one.

Balor’s death was inevitable and it all began with the theft of a cow.
The cow belonged to Gaibhidin, a swordsman of the mainland clan, the Tuatha De Danaan.
Cian, a leader of this clan, was sent in search of the cow and instead, with the help of the druid Birog, found the tower in which Eisthne was imprisoned.

Dunlewey Lough
Dunlewey Lough
Balor
Balor (source https://www.enworld.org)

Seeing the girl, he fell madly in love.
But being a man he would never be able to get in!
Always with the help of the druid, he dressed as a woman and thus managed to reveal himself to Eithne.
The two immediately fell in love and from their union three twins were born.
Balor obviously found out, beheaded Cian and threw the twins into the sea.

However, one of them was rescued by Birog who christened him Lugh.
Lugh eventually became king of the clan and went to live in a fort in Dunlewey.
A few years later, Balor visited Gaibhidin’s forge and boasted that he had killed Cian and the twins. Unaware that Lugh had survived, his vainglory led to his death.
Lugh pulled a metal rod out of the forge and planted it in his head making it come out of his eye!

Translations in Ireland are never easy

Legend suggests that the name Poisoned Glen comes from the poison that escaped from Balor’s destroyed eye.
In fact, it is more likely that the name is due to a mistranslation of the Gaelic “Gleann Nimhe”.
In Gaelic “neimhe” means poison while “neamh” means paradise, two words very easy to confuse.

The return home, but not without a “proper snack”

A well-deserved burger
The “snack”

After this beautiful walk we deserve a worthy meal, and we find it at RTJ’s!
There is nothing open in the area near the mountain so I go blind on google maps, but guys… A fabulous burger at a reasonable price!
No kidding there is a huge amount of meat and it is really good, super recommended!

If you don’t know how we got here… Here are the buttons.



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