Sunday, April 12, 2020

Ireland Part 9

We woke up, ate breakfast, and headed out for an adventure.  I'd seen pictures of the Cuillcagh Boardwalk hike and was dying to do it.  The funniest thing was when you google the hike all the reviews whine about how no dogs are allowed.  All the reviews are negative because of that. I guess Irish people LOVE hiking with their dogs?  It is a great hike, dogs or no dogs.  It goes across boggy moors and up a mountainside and the weather was so moody I one hundred percent thought we'd been transported into a Bronte novel.  It was a really spectacular hike, and like all photo's they simply can't capture it. 















We got rained on at the very end of the hike so we raced back to the car before we got drenched.  Lucky timing.  We headed to Donegal town with a stop at Tully Castle ruins.



 We desperately needed to do laundry and none of our hotel's/airbnbs had laundry facilities.  And laundromats are open at odd hours in Ireland for some reason.  So we parked at a gas station in Donegal and did laundry for an hour and a half.  The dryer did not work unfortunately and we spread out our wet clothes at the hotel that night.  But it was grand to do laundry.



 It was stormy and chilly when we ventured into Donegal town.  We bought sweaters and ate a delish dinner at a quaint pub.  So interesting how Irish emmigrants became police in the US and they all send their police badge thingies back to Irish pubs.  I've seen it all over Ireland. 




 Our hotel was fab.  We stayed at Lake Eske Castle Hotel and it was like being a guest at Downton Abbey.  




Saturday, April 11, 2020

Ireland Day 8

I'm afraid this was a rather disappointing day.  We were going to visit some grand estates, but sadly most had closed for the season the weekend before.  But we managed to make it a good day.  First stop was Crom Estate and Castle.  We walked through the muddy fields to visit the ruined castle.  The estate house was closed. 









Our next destination was also closed. Castle Coole. 


 We went to visit Enniskillen Castle, which was basically a military history museum.  Is there anything worse than a military history museum.  The answer is no, no there is not. 

We finally had some luck when we Lough Navar Forest Drive and we walked around for some lovely views. 






 On our way back to Enniskillen we stopped on a whim at Monea Castle.





 We ate an early dinner so Lucy could catch her bus back to Belfast.  It wasn't very fun to say goodbye to her, but it was good to know she was going back to more grand times in Belfast. 
That night the sunset was lovely over the lake at the hotel.