The Wild Atlantic Way - eine Reise entlang der irischen Westküste
The Wild Atlantic Way - eine Reise entlang der irischen Westküste
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Donegal Castle & Glenveagh Castle

Pubblicato: 11.01.2023

06/22/20

Dorothy is not visible for breakfast and Paddy, the really nice husband, takes care of us. We laugh a lot with him, what joy! Shortly before 10am, we start the approximately 4-minute drive to the city center of Donegal, which is centered around a central square and covers about 100 square meters 😉. The medieval castle towers above the River Eske, which may have been started in the 15th century, but at least since the mid-16th century with outer walls and a residential tower. 

Donegal Castle in Donegal
Donegal Castle in Donegal

For the usual entrance fee of 4 euros, we can explore the rooms with a German information sheet. It doesn't take long, but there are a few memorable things. In the banquet hall, there is a remarkable fireplace. In the upper floor, there used to be two bedrooms, which are no longer preserved, but an artistic impressive wooden ceiling, which was completely joined together with wooden nails. 

Donegal Castle
Donegal Castle

We walk on an original wooden floor from the 17th century. In the corner tower, there was not only the toilet, the floor of which slopes in a certain inclination to dispose of the excrement in the river, but also an anteroom, which is called 'wardrobe'. They believed in the 'disinfecting' effect of ammonia from human excretions and hung clothes in front of the toilet area for this purpose. A really strange idea. 

Donegal Castle - the wardrobe
Donegal Castle - the wardrobe

After about an hour, we are ready to leave and drive north on the N15 expressway, turn onto the R250 and R251, stop for the second time unsuccessfully at the Fintown Historcal Railway, which was already closed yesterday at 4pm and today at 12pm for no apparent reason. No information about opening hours, just a sign 'Open' - and everything closed. Stupid. 

So we continue to Glenveagh Castle. I forgot to mention that we woke up to a bright blue sky today and were spoiled with plenty of sun ☀️ until 4pm. For the first time in 11 days, the thermometer temporarily shows a 2 at noon - with a 0 behind it! 20 degrees! Unbelievable! 

Wow! 20 degrees!!
Wow! 20 degrees!! But the navigation system doesn't know where we are anymore.

But first, we follow the winding country road through gentle hills, which looked so different in the dull gray of the rainy Sunday yesterday. In the small town of Church Hill, we have a wonderful view to the east over wide green land and to many hills and mountains in the distance. 

At Church Hill
View to the west - the Muckish Mountain belongs to the Glenveagh National Park

To the west, the Glenveagh National Park now extends. 

Ireland has 6 national parks, Glenveagh (pronounced Glenn-weh) is the second largest in the country. The landscape here is only low-lying, almost barren, and due to glacial influences, there are many flattened rocks and elevations, such as the Muckish Mountain, which looks like a table mountain again and is a granite mountain with a height of just under 700m. The former glacial valley is now the Lough Veagh, on one side of which is the Glenveagh Castle

The castle itself cannot be visited at the moment, which I don't mind at all. Especially since the thing is only 150 years old. The huge parking lot gives an indication that the crowds are pushing here during high season. The silhouette plus location fulfills dreams of tourists of all kinds. Today, we hear a lot of German.

Glenveagh Castle
Glenveagh Castle

From the visitor center, we take a bus for 4km to the castle, where you can hike various trails. Of course, you could also walk the distance, but we want to do that on the way back if the weather holds up. We walk through the well-known and beautiful Victorian garden, which offers various themed gardens. 

The garden of Glenveagh Castle
The garden of Glenveagh Castle
The garden of Glenveagh Castle
The garden of Glenveagh Castle

Then I start the Peak View Trail, a rather steep path, partly equipped with railings to make the ascent or descent easier. The trail leads to a viewpoint high above Lough Veagh with a view of the 5 km long lake, the castle, and the Derryveagh Mountains opposite. 

On the View Point Trail
On the View Point Trail
View from the View Point
View from the View Point


Lough Veagh and Glenveagh Castle
We meet in the tea room of the castle, which has the character of a fast-food restaurant with self-service, drink a tea in cardboard cups, and see the clouds rolling in. So we take the bus back to the car and continue to Gortahork. 

As soon as we arrive at the visitor center, the sky is completely overcast, the temperature has dropped to 15 degrees, and we drive through the exciting inhospitable landscape of the Glenveagh National Park through a narrow valley along a mountain whose flank has either slipped or been excavated.

Glenveagh National Park

Glenveagh National Park
Glenveagh National Park
Glenveagh National Park


Hotel in Gortahork

We reach the village of Gortahork shortly after 5pm, where we have two rooms in a hotel today. The hotel is surprisingly nice inside, while the place seems to consist practically only of the hotel, a gas station with a closed Spar shop, a church, and a school, all located on the main road. 



We are eating fish for the first time on this vacation, as it is practically unaffordable everywhere and often only offered breaded. We sit in the lobby a bit before everyone retreats to their room. Tomorrow we want to go to Derry/Londonderry, that is Northern Ireland, before we drive to Malin Head, the most remote corner and the northernmost point of Ireland. 

Daily distance 110km

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