After a wonderful breakfast here at the Lough Eske Castle, we headed a bit further north to one of Ireland's 6 National Parks. It is called Glenveigh National Park. As you can see in the picture at the left, most of the park is barren bog land, but about 160 years ago a man named Adare decided he wanted a "hunting lodge". The castle you see on the lakeshore is it. It is still nearly in the condition it was back then. It has immense gardens which surround the castle. All of the gardens AND trees have been planted over the years by owners. It is a beautiful oasis in a stark and barren land. It was an interesting morning.
After we were done there, we headed on a scenic drive back toward Donegal. Stopped on our way to do some shopping a small town called Ardara. The picture on the right is especially for my brother, Mike. This is your new hat, Mike. We had fun looking around for just the right one. Hope you are going to like it.
We ended the touring part of the day with a tour of Donegal Castle and dinner in Donegal town.
We are pretty pooped tonight, so plan for a quick dip in the pool and then an early bedtime. It's hard to get into sleep mode here when it stays light so late!
Tomorrow we head for Galway area. We will do a bit of touring on our way in the Connemara area and try to fit in a stop at the town of Westport. There is a pub there owned by Matt Molloy, who is a member of the famous Irish group, The Chieftans. We can already hear the Guinness calling us!
Hope all is well with everyone.
Debbie
2 comments:
Yes, you are right, another beautiful day in Ireland. The National Park looks quite different than I imagined when reading the trip itinerary. Did you think it would be so barren? Looks interesting. Did you get to see the hunting lodge/castle up close? It couldn't have compared to the castle from last night. That looked beautiful.
Can't wait to hear all about your trip when we see you guys in August. Take lots of pictures.
We loved Bob's modeling......did he purchase a hat for himself too? Looks a lot like the hat our Dad used to wear years ago. Not bad at all.
Take care and keep blogging. We really enjoy reading it daily.
Love, Karen & Kenn
Hi Karen,
Yes we did tour the castle. Most of the original furnishings were still in the rooms in excellent condition. The garden and grounds were in full bloom, amazing plantings.
Kennn, driving here is much more challenging than Australia. Roads are narrow, hilly, with many tight curves, but the Irish like to go fast, so as result we feel like we are part of a cross country race.
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