Day 10: Sunday (6/16/2013)

Today: into North Ireland!

Got up, said our goodbyes to Frank, and left Galway behind.

Derry hasn't forgotten.

Our first stop in North Ireland: Derry.  The main attraction for us there was the fantastic walk around the old city walls.  A lot of history happened in and around Derry, both prior to the 20th century, and of course during some far more recent events.  The city itself feels tense and unwelcoming--IRA slogans are still painted on the roofs of houses viewable from the walls.

For lunch, we decided to try the heavily-advertised Irish "Supermac" chain, with the "Mega mac" all-Irish-beef hamburger.  It was, well, a burger.  I will say that the patty was huge, and definitely a cut above what you'd normally get at a fast food restaurant.  But other than that, there wasn't much to write home about.

Absolutely amazing how much
work flowing water can get done.

From Derry, we did a loop around the northwest corner of Ireland, starting in Donegal.  Our first stop was to tour a watermill and linen factory, the Newmills Corn and Flax mills.  Note that corn actually means oats in Ireland, and what we call corn they call maize.

This place was fantastic, particularly if you're an engineer.  It's a working watermill and exhibit that shows both how the mechanisms work--what folks did with just water power was amazingly ingenious--and how linen was made from flax.  I thoroughly enjoyed the tour and the museum.  This sight deserves a MUCH higher rating in travel books.

After the mills we went to Glenveagh National Park.  After starting at the visitor's center, we opted not to visit the castle and went on a hike around the 2km nature trail to see the area.  Great hike--fantastic views, and no people.  This was my first time on a bog in sunshine--was able to smell it (yay!) and see for ourselves how spongy and elastic it is. Crazy stuff, that bog.

We finally headed up to Portrush for the night, checking in at the Adelphi hotel.  Portrush is interesting--the place is basically a giant amusement park full of carnival rides, slot machines, and golf courses.  it feels very faded, worn, and not very friendly.  Our hotel is on the main drag, but doesn't have parking--we had to scrounge for street parking every night.

For dinner we ate the rest of our farmer's market food, and crashed.