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4 July 2016

Today was one of those days that vacationers in Ireland fear.  It started raining at 9 AM and didn’t stop until the afternoon.  Since it was raining and we forgot to go to Eason’s yesterday, we thought we’d make the now routine trip to Letterkenny.  We opted to take the longer route on the N56 to get a better idea of the northern coast.

Eventually, we wound our way to the Letterkenny Tourist Office where we used the restroom, grabbed a few brochures, and got a map of Letterkenny with direction to Eason’s.  The woman who was working was very friendly and helpful.  Then the kids played on the grass and wall next to the car park (even though it was raining).

Next up:  a return to the Letterkenny Shopping Centre.  We thought we would give the small Eason’s shop in the shopping centre a try, but they didn’t have Ordinance Survey Maps so we went into Tesco and got things for a picnic.  Since it was pouring rain we ate lunch in the car again.  When we were finished eating we made the short drive to the Courtyard Shopping Centre to visit the larger Eason’s.

We parked in the parking garage which was free for one hour (you have to take the ticket with you and use the machine inside the building entrance when you leave).  We entered Eason’s on the lowest level and it was the goldmine that I had been looking for for a year!  By happenstance we had walked into the ‘School Books” section of the store (the entire lower level).  I picked up two Irish (Gaeilge) workbooks for Fionnuala and three for Liam before heading upstairs.  Again it was perfect, as they had every OS Map (Discovery Series) for the whole county.  I purchased #1, 10 and 11.  While I was looking at the maps the children each were selecting one item for themselves.  Liam chose a travel version of Battleship and Fionnuala chose a bracelet making kit.

Now that everyone had found what they were looking for, we returned to the car and set off for Gaoth Dobhair.  Just as we entered the Poison Glen on our trip back to the house the rain began to let up and then eventually ended.  The drive follows the northern boundary of Glenveagh National Park and is stunning.  Sarah found the drive in the rain to be very striking.

We spent about an hour regrouping in our house and the weather kept getting nicer and nicer.  One of the things that Sarah had been hoping to see on our visit was Bád Eddie (an iconic postcard image of Gaoth Dobhair), so we set off to find it.  We paused at the sign for An Trá, but I thought it might be too soon so we took the next turn and ended up at the pier.  The pier is actually quite charming, but not what we were looking for at the moment.  While turning the car around I did notice that there are some nice looking B&Bs located by the pier that would have wonderful sea views.

We turned around and went back down the road where we followed the signposts for An Trá and were rewarded  by a stunning beach on a beautiful evening.  The children had a wonderful time playing in the sand and water.  Sarah was happy to discover another one of her pre-trip purchases worked really well.  Before our trip she had purchased a capture camera clip hoping it would help with carrying around her camera.  She was thrilled to discover how well it worked.  It clips to a bag strap or belt so that you do not have to keep putting your camera away and taking it back out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The tide was coming in surprisingly fast and it was almost time to eat so we headed back to the house in awe of what a beautiful evening had come from such an awful day of weather.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gaeilge Experience: TV, Radio, we didn’t really interact with anyone inside the Gaeltacht today.

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