We had been looking forward to our stay near our family’s farm outside of Dunfanaghy, Donegal, for our whole trip so far. It is where my Dad grew up and I’ve always felt a strong connection to the place and our family. Brett and the kids fell in love with it during our visit last year.
We weren’t only excited to get there, we were excited because we would be there, stationary, for 2 weeks. No packing and no moving for two whole weeks. We were staying in the same quaint cottage on a lake that we stayed in last year.
Just like last year, our family was incredibly welcoming. They all have a way of making us feel welcome but not as outsiders. We immediately feel like we slip right in as a part of the family. My cousin Roberta and her husband John, as always, were so hospitable. She welcomed us to town, helped organize a day camp for the kids, and just generally made us feel at home. She also helped us by letting us use her address to have a number of parcels shipped to her before we arrived, including all of Ronan’s birthday presents, and a replacement credit card (ours got cancelled while we were in England because someone had been using it fraudulently). We had such drama getting UPS to find her house that in the end, the only reason we received it was because Roberta got out of her car and flagged down the courier van when she spotted it in town :).
We also deeply appreciated the hospitality of all of our family. We enjoyed the many dinners we spent together, the great ‘craic’, and a special thanks to my cousin Janette who organized a babysitter for us so that a number of us could all go out for a Saturday night on the town.
There were two minor problems with our stay. First, the weather. For the most part it was rainy, windy, and cool. We did manage to get out and enjoy brief spells of good weather and we still tried getting out anytime it wasn’t raining, but we didn’t do nearly as much as we’d hoped.
The second issue, possibly related, was that Brett got a cold during the second week. He felt pretty rough and just didn’t feel like doing much. Luckily, there was a 3 day ‘camp’ at a local church hall. Our kids had a blast from 10-2 and we had time to ourselves. Brett really just wanted to rest. I used one of those days to get my first haircut on this trip. I was very nervous. I haven’t been to a different hair stylist in 7 years. It all worked out great.
The kids had a really good time being around other kids, especially Riley. She has two cousins in particular that she stuck with like glue, playing dolls and talking about ballet. We gave the kids as much time as we could to play and get to know their cousins better.
There were some amusing anecdotes along the way. Our kids are young, and they often say words just a little wrong. Brett usually corrects them but I let it go. It is so innocent and sweet and I know that they’ll figure it out anyway at some point. I prefer to just listen to their sweet innocent little voices saying the odd word a bit wrong. One of the words they don’t get quite right is ‘crotch’. They call it ‘crutch’ instead (and I have no idea why this word comes up so much in their conversations!). As in ‘Mama, Iain just kicked me in the crutch!!’ Every single time it makes me laugh. I never really envisioned a scenario where this mispronunciation would cause a misunderstanding….until now. A number of the kids were playing and a chair leg landed on Iain’s toes. He was crying, his toe was cut and was already starting to bruise. The two girls he was playing with, his cousins, were trying to help and comfort him. They told him that if it gets any worse and he has trouble walking, they can give him their crutches. The look of pure confusion (and horror) on Iain’s face. But it kept going…first they said he probably just needed one crutch but then decided maybe he should use both just in case. So funny.
As far as our adventures in Donegal, we went to many of the same places we went to last year; our favorites. We really like the Boardwalk Beach which is about a 15 minute drive from where we were staying. There are many closer beaches but I find this one particularly beautiful – there’s fine sand, small tide pools that the kids can splash around in without us worrying about them in open water, the beach is so big, and best of all, there’s hardly ever anyone there. There is a 1.1 km boardwalk from the parking lot to the beach. This probably deters many visitors and keeps the beach nice and quiet.
We also went to Glenveagh park, where there is a beautiful castle/manor and some pretty hiking trails with beautiful vistas over the lake and surrounding hills.
I know I already posted about Northern Ireland but I didn’t include any mention of our one-day visit to Derry. Derry is a fantastic and complicated little city. I have little to no understanding of the complicated relationship between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland, Derry in particular, but I don’t pretend to know what it must be like to have grown up in Northern Ireland (or Ireland, for that matter) or to have lived through ‘the troubles’. We tried to learn a bit about the history while we were there. Derry is the only fully walled city in Ireland. The walls were constructed in 1613 as defenses for early 17th century settlers from England and Scotland. The walk around the walls is about 1.5 km and provides not only a great view of the city and surrounding area, there are a large number of placards that provide a description of the history of each area as you pass by. And unlike many other European cities, there is no charge for walking on the city walls!
We visited the Siege museum that gave us a decent understanding of the history of the city. A small museum but very well put together. We didn’t know much about the history of Derry beyond the recent troubles. I am not an expert by any stretch but what I learned was that there was a brief period where the King of England, Scotland and Ireland (James II) was a Catholic and had been shifting the power in Ireland to Catholics. Derry, primarily a town of protestant settlers from England and Scotland, resisted. James and his appointed viceroy that ruled Ireland decided to get Derry back under their control in 1689. Their ultimate tactic, after a number of attacks, was to starve Derry out. Derry ultimately prevailed against James but it is said that the population dropped from 8000 to 4000 over the 105 day siege. The siege is still commemorated by the protestants in the city every year.
We dropped by St. Columb’s cathedral, the first non Roman Catholic cathedral to be built in Europe after the Reformation. It was completed in 1633. There is a small museum in the back of the cathedral that has many documents and memorabilia dating back to the Siege of Derry. There are portraits of William of Orange and the original keys of the city. It really is amazing to see these items close-up and in person.
When we weren’t out exploring parks, castles, or other towns, we spent a lot of time in our quaint cottage enjoying the fireplace while the weather stormed outside or playing out in the yard when it wasn’t raining. There is something so comforting about being inside by a fire when it’s cold and rainy outside.
If there was a break in the weather, we went to a nearby playground that has a little café that serves amazing coffee and pancakes. Brett and I would get some time to work or read over coffee while the kids got some energy out on the playground.
We spent the last few days of our trip dealing with some necessary tasks. First, we drove down to Naas, just outside of Dublin for some work meetings for me. The price of hotels or Airbnb’s within an hour’s drive of Dublin were way too high for us. Nothing under $200/night even for very basic accommodation. We decided to book an Airbnb in Westmeath, just over an hour’s drive from the office in Naas that I was there to visit. It was fantastic! It was a house on a working farm in Westmeath, a county I knew next to nothing about. We came in with no expectations and were so taken with the beauty of the countryside around the area. Micky, our host, was so friendly and welcoming. He even took the kids out for a tour of the farm.
We took a day trip out to Belvedere house and gardens. It is a country house in Westmeath built in 1740 as a hunting lodge. The gardens and grounds are beautiful. There are a number of follies (ornamental buildings or structures that have no practical purpose) on the grounds, including the most spectacular folly in the country, The Jealous Wall, built to block off the view of his estranged brother’s house nearby.
We also had to drive into south Dublin to get our last round of travel vaccines (finally!). There was drama once again but the experience was better than the first couple of rounds of vaccines.
Lastly we drove back up to Belfast for a face-to-face work meeting I had scheduled, then we made our way to the airport for our next adventure. We will miss Ireland but I suspect it won’t be long until we are back.
Onward to Croatia!