Donegal Castle & Glenveagh Castle

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. 

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. 

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. 

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! 

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. 

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.

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. 

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. 

Daily distance 110km