slowly she turned

In the morning in Ardara, I had breakfast in Charlie’s West End Cafe, then Geraldine picked me up and took me to Donegal Town. She even brought me a large suitcase on wheels to give to me! It was really too big for what I needed, though, and I was still thinking about doing only carry-on on the flight back. Once I got to Donegal Town, I realized that my small backpack was so stuffed that it was coming apart at the seams, so I bought a small carry-on with wheels at the store next to my hotel. And friends, that is the LAST time I will attempt to travel for that long with two backpacks. It was so worth it to get the wheeled suitcase!

Another lesson in my limits.

In one version of this trip, I had reserved an e-bike in Carrick and was planning to ride some roads and trails to some of the places too far for me to walk. Fortunately, I decided to cancel that reservation. I can’t really imagine doing that now that I’ve been there. Margaret took me to one of the places I had planned to ride to, and the other places I missed I’ll just have to visit when I go back one day.

In Donegal Town, I left my bags at the Abbey Hotel, and walked over to Donegal Castle, the home of the O’Donnells before the Brits took over.

In the family’s living area on what would have been next to the top floor, there was a large dining table and an old faded tapestry on the wall. The area for storage and servants was on the bottom floor.

It was clear when you looked up that there had been another floor. This would have been where the children and servants slept.

The spiral stairway was purposely made uneven (a classmate referred to this as “stumble stairs”) to make it more difficult for raiders to navigate. Keep in mind that it was much darker and there was no stair rail then.

I know that you want to know how the rich went potty in these times. The “garderobe” allowed you to sit over a hole in a plank and the waste went out a chute into the river. The chute was slanted so that an archer could not surprise you by shooting you in the ass while you did your business. Meadowsweet was strewn on the floor to help with the smell. This was just off the spiral stairs.

After that, I walked around the center of town, bought a tee shirt (all my warm weather clothes were dirty), and kind of collapsed when my room was ready early. It was directly over the bus stop, and really warm. I went downstairs to the pub, which was modern and very nice, drank a Smithwick’s, and ate a bowl of chowder. But I just could not get it together to do any more than that. Good thing I canceled that e-bike, huh? I relaxed and read and late that night, attempted to take a cool shower so that I could sleep. Even if I could have opened the window more than a crack, the noise from the buses and people on the Diamond would have kept me awake. Well, I could not get the water cold. In fact, I nearly scalded myself trying to rinse off.

The Abbey Hotel was clean and convenient but I did not enjoy my stay there.

In the morning, I had coffee and a light breakfast downstairs and then hopped on the bus that would take me to Castletown in County Mayo.

The two photos above were in Sligo. Just above is the Sligo train station.

Three above photos: my bus connection in Castletown was just long enough to have a little brunch in Jenny’s Cafe. I was now in County Mayo, where everybody was excited about Mayo being in the Gaelic Football finals.

I caught another bus to Westport, where Lora and her crew from the Essence of Mulranny Studios picked up my classmates and I at the train station.

We had a fantastic welcome dinner with champagne at the art center’s dining room, then we ended up all back on a small bus to take us to our lodgings, which turned out to be about a 15 minute drive away out in the country on the Wild Atlantic Way, with amazing views. We were staying in Achill, not on the island (yet), in a village called Currane.

Five of my classmates stayed in Currane House, where we would have breakfast each morning. The other three of us stayed in a house within walking distance up the hill a little ways. This was the view from our back yard.