Traveling the Emerald Isle -- Day 14, Thursday, September 1, 2022

The Fanad Peninsula, Republic of Ireland; Northern Ireland – Day 14, Thursday, September 1, 2022

Today we are spending this morning driving around the Fanad Peninsula, one of the Republic of Ireland’s northern most peninsulas. This trek is still along the Wild Atlantic Way, so we see more rugged coastlines. As we approach Fanad Head, the very tip of the peninsula, there’s a light house built in 1818 in response to the sinking of the ship Saldana where all lives were lost. The ship was identified from a silver collar around the ship’s parrot which was the only survivor. Also, during WWI, Lough Swilly (the bay on the south side of the peninsula) became the main Atlantic base for the allied fleet, with Fanad Point guarding its entrance.

This area, however, is the Donegal “Gaeltacht”, the name given to the Irish speaking areas of Ireland. Irish was the main language of the island until the 16^th century when the British ruled.  They outlawed the Irish language, requiring only English to be spoken.  Today about 75 percent of the people in the Gaeltacht speak Irish. Irish and its culture are taught in the schools and signs are all written in the Irish language. This area from here back toward Slieve League is the largest Gaeltacht area of the Republic.

Farming Salmon in the bay

One of hundreds of ancient ruins

Fanad Lighthouse

Driving down the eastern side of the peninsula along the Lough Swilly, the views are beautiful, though it is a bit foggy today; and near Ballymastocker we see circular cages in the bay which are used to farm salmon.  Once we circle back to Letterkenny, we head east to Derry (or Londonderry, whichever your preference, I gather) and cross the border into Northern Ireland. Even though it is a different nation (actually a part of the United Kingdom) with its money being in pounds, there was no border stop. It was like crossing state lines in the US.  The cute little town of Portrush was our destination for lunch at a delightful bistro along the coast called 55 North Restaurant, Bistro & Café.

 From there we drove directly to Giant’s Causeway along the Antrim Coast.

As if we haven’t seen enough spectacular panoramic coastal views, the Giant’s Causeway ranks as one of the top. We walked along the top of the cliff soaking in the churning waters below, the sheer cliffs weaving around the water’s edge … Jaw dropping views.  Then we went down 162 steps to continue on a lower path to even more breathtaking views and different rock formations.  What is so unique about these cliffs is they are a “geological phenomenon consisting of about 40,000 polygonal basalt columns forming the causeway that juts out into the sea. Scientists believe the columns were created some 60 million years ago by volcanic activity.” (pg 238, IRELAND BACK ROADS, Penquin Random House, 2018) What was really fun, however, was the large pile of columns that have broken off over the millennia that people would climb all over. We spent a good half hour being kids on the rocks, looking for that next column to step on to climb either up or down or around. 

Our hike took us to the second to last point ... after that the trail closed for safety reasons

Yes, switchback down the steps and then along the path below all the way to the point

Towering "Pipes of the Organ" at Giant's Causewqy

See the trail on which we walk to get back to the car

"The Stepping Stone" columns to climb over!

Bob, Frank and Suzanne ... having fun. Can you find them?

Tired and hungry, we drive to Coleraine to our hotel for the evening.  Unfortunately, it appears that everything in Coleraine shuts down on Thursday nights.  We walked into what we thought was a bar and restaurant, only to find out it was only a bar.  But there the locals were overly helpful in trying to give suggestions … and directions … to places to eat.  It was quite amusing and delightful at the same time!  The bartender, being the clearer head in the place, provided the name and written directions to a nice restaurant slightly outside of town where we did enjoy another Irish/English dinner and drinks. Yet another awesome day on the Emerald Isle!