Highest Sea Cliffs in Europe and Wool Sweaters

April 11, 2013

Highest Sea Cliffs in Europe and Wool Sweaters

March 23, 24 – County Donegal

After leaving Derry we drove on to County Donegal, and our B&B, Rossmore Manor, a few km outside of town. Rossmore Manor is up a one-lane road, and sits on acreage overlooking an ocean bay. Our room also has this view of the bay, and this place is definitely special. Rossmore Manor is owned by Jackie and Geoff, who have five children ranging from 2 to 13. By the end of our time here, we were getting behind the scenes tour of the house, and playing with some of the kids. They built Rossmore Manor 15 years ago, and it does look like a small castle, gargoyles, turrets, etc. First nights dinner at the Old Castle Bar, Guinness and Irish Stew.

Morning breakfast (Donna had Jackie’s delicious savory pancake – a thicker version of a crepe stuffed with sautéed mushrooms, onions, fresh chopped yellow peppers, ham and cheese – and you thought it was only going to be full Irish breakfasts!) and off for a day of touring.

It remains unseasonably cold and windy, but we are determined to see the highest sea cliffs in Europe, called Slieve League. They are about 600 meters (1800 feet) high or approximately three times higher than the much more famous Cliffs of Moher (which are coming up, and were impressive as well). Donna wrote in her journal that “The wind has such power, I felt as though some gusts nearly knocked me over” I wrote that these were “the strongest winds I can ever remember standing out in” You get the picture – it was very windy! We hiked as far up as you could reasonably go on such a day. At Slieve League, there is a tower outlook built in the time of Napolean (around 1800 or a few years later), to warn of potential attacks from Napolean’s forces. Also, a rock formation called the “School desk and chair” by the locals.

We intended on going up to “the poisoned Glen” and some other sights in County Donegal, but got sidetracked in a pretty little town, called Ardara, famous for its woolen mills. At one shop/museum Dennis demonstrated an old working loom (over 100 years old) , consisting of 1300 warp threads, which takes an entire day to set up. Donna purchased two hand knit sweaters, one from this shop and one from another store with a very friendly salesperson (I had to coax her).

That night was an excellent dinner at Harbour House, right by the cozy fire – baked cod surrounded by mussels, roasted red potatoes, and an outstanding sticky toffee pudding for dessert. A wonderful finish to a great day.

We are staying two nights at each B&B, but I could be easily staying 3 or 4 – such great accommodations and so many great things to see. Much more of County Donegal that we did not see so a return visit to County Donegal for some more exploring will be on the return trip agenda, whenever that may be.

The next morning we had to say goodbye to Jackie and Geoff, but it was a long and very fun goodbye, as they came in and sat down and over cups of coffee told us several really fun stories.

Donna writes in her journal. They have five children, Nicole (12), Gavin (10), Scott (7), Natalie (5), Harry (2.5). Jackie (39, will be 40 this year; her Mom is 57) and Geoff brought their coffee into the dining room and visited with Don and me. Then they took us into their living quarters to show us the huge bay window looking out over the bay. Geoff showed Don an old gun collection (Don notes – these were really old muskets - a nice touch for their "castle home", and such; not the crazy automatic weapons of the US. In fact in Ireland, they have very strict gun laws, handguns basically aren’t allowed, strict rules on other guns, the police (Garda) do not carry guns – and they all think (rightfully so in my opinion) this is perfectly normal. And surprise, surprise, they have a very low incidence of violent deaths – it’s a very peaceful society).

Natalie and Scott showed me (Donna) shelves containing their favorite DVD’s. I (Donna) bought a leprechaun from Gavin’s shelf in the dining room. Jackie told us lots of stories about her family. Her maternal grandmother married a 70 year old when she was only 14, and had 11 children with him. She is currently only in her 70’s with many grandchildren. At 57, Jackie’s Mom, her children’s grandmother has a tattoo. Jackie’s father died of a massive heart attack at age 31, when Jackie was only 7, and her Mom was 24 with 3 children to support. Jackie and Geoff went to school together and started to date at age 16. Jackie is a nurse. She stopped nursing 3 years ago when she was pregnant with Harry and had a bad bout with her M.S.

They told a funny story about the priest that married them. Jackie was Catholic (converted to Protestantism) and Geoff was Protestant. When Jackie asked about getting married at her Catholic Church in Donegal, the priest refused since Geoff did not plan to convert. So Jackie went to the Catholic Church in Ballyshannon where the priest was more than accommodating and happy to marry them. Two years ago, Jackie’s Mom found a huge photo of the priest in the newspaper bare-chested, with a pink sash across his chest, proclaiming him as Mr. Gay Ireland.

All in all, a fun few days in County Donegal. Here are a few pics.