Over Yonder in Donegal

Last week we took advantage of the midweek 12th of July holiday (a fascinatingly contentious celebration if you care to look it up) to spend a few extra days exploring County Donegal in the northwest of the Republic of Ireland.  It was named the coolest place on the planet in 2017 by National Geographic...so it's reputation speaks for itself.  We were looking for beautiful hiking, magnificent coastline, fun towns, and great pubs.  And of course the requisite pasture-lined, curvy, narrow roads we have come to very much associate with the entire island.  Donegal did not disappoint.

On our way over from Belfast, Abe was quite keen on traveling first to Tangaveane - a real place from which a totally fictional character, Patrick Harper, hails (from the Sharpe's books I hear - frequently).  Let me tell you, Tangaveane is quite literally in the middle of the great wide open.  Breathtakingly vast and beautiful and also incredibly difficult to actually get to (or away from).

Tangaveane - the picture does NOT do it justice and it made Abe happy to go there so "thumbs up"

We stayed in Donegal town (on Donegal Bay) which is on the very southern end of the county and along the Wild Atlantic way (the coastline drive).  The kids will likely report the best bit of the trip was that there was a pool in our hotel and we will all agree being in town was convenient and the pool was a nice bit of fun to work up an appetite before dinner. We'll call Day 1 "the kids' day" since it featured lots of driving (aka screen time), pool, playground, and ice cream).

I told the kids I was going to take a picture of them in front of all the castles we see so one day we have proof we took them to a million boring castles :) This one is Donegal Castle

The River Finn that runs through Donegal Town

Day 2 was a very long, full day.  We got an early start and headed up through Letterkenny and onto Glenveagh National Park.  We hiked over 6km by a loch to the castle and up to a spectacular viewpoint.  Although the whole thing was beautiful and very classic "castle" feel, we were a bit disappointed to learn that the castle was actually built in the 1800s by some wealthy American and after exchanging hands a few times, was donated to the Irish government.  Still cool, but with an asterisk.

On top of the turret at Glenveagh Castle

Hiking next to the Loch. Photo credit to Ariana Lorber

Mt Errigal

Selfie at Poisoned Glen

 Poisoned Glen

After a wee rest and a dip in the pool, we headed out for an evening visit to Slieve League - the highest sea cliffs in Europe and a late dinner and the very lovely Kitty Kelly's.  I'm not sure how all four of us made it through to dessert, but the whole evening was my favorite part of the trip.  Day 2 was "mom's day".

Slieve League - The Giant's Desk and Chair

Sheep EVERYWHERE

Slieve League

Which brings us to day 3, "dad's day".  It involved a boat, swimming, and fresh from the creamery ice cream.  We drove to Enniskillen - just over the border* back into Northern Ireland (UK).  We grabbed some lunch from Chaska - voted 2018 best kebap restaurant in Northern Ireland - to take on the boat and headed out for a 3 hour tour (just kidding, it was only 2 hours).  We all had a turn at steering the boat and we stopped off along the way to check out a VERY old monastery (like 500 CE) on an island.

Our last stop before Belfast was to Ticky Moo Dairy and Creamery.  It was very cool to see a fully automatic milking operation in full swing.  It was also very very delicious ice cream.  I'd advise not combining the two activities.


*The border...currently referred to as a soft border...is only noticeable in the streets signs which in the Republic feature kilometers as well as lettering in Irish and English.  And maybe the motorways are a bit better kept in Northern Ireland. 

Belfast - boats, birthdays, and more

Ok, so for starters - I can't believe that it's been 6 weeks since my last post!  I think that's a good sign though, right?  It means we've been busy having some adventures (and going to work and school)!  A few weeks ago, we had a VERY full weekend of all sorts of Belfast fun.  For starters, there was a tall sails ship festival in the harbor.  There were wooden ships, more modern coast guard type ships and even some that looked like pirate ships.  We had fun climbing around looking at the galley, sleeping quarters, captain's bridge and more. 

Here's something worth importing my fellow Americans: group birthday parties!  3-4 times a year, all the families with birthdays around that time in the school class team up and throw a class birthday party.  Everyone is invited, gifts are the same for all the kids, and you don't have to run around to a different birthday party every weekend or juggle between conflicting dates!  I'm sure it's not perfect, but I'm finding it to be an execllent idea!  Another great grade school export is the class WhatsApp group.  Particularly for less well connected families (aka the lorbers), it's an instant way to ask questions, find out key information about school and activities, and not have to run around trying to collect people's phone numbers.  I'm a fan (Abe could use a bit less of the chatter but oh well). 

Ariana with her P1 classmates at May's birthday bash

The final excitement of the weekend was a trip to the Stormont Estate which theoretically is the seat of the Northern Ireland government (which is current defunct but that's a whole other tale).  It is also a giant estate open to the public with loads of nature trails, a playground, and more.

So far we're doing a good job of balancing some Belfast adventure weekends, travel weekends, and just hangout at home weekends (cause CrossFit, laundry, and screen time are important too).  Two highlights hopefully coming to the blog soon - our trip to Paris, a look at the first term of school at Inch Marlo and Victoria College, and Ariana has a loose tooth!