Well, first we went to probably one of the ugliest National Parks I have ever seen. Glenveagh National Park is in the highlands of the northwest area. It has a brown appearance due to the boglands and scrubby brush that covers the hills. It is a remote type of beauty, I suppose, with an apparently glacial made lake. Interesting, huh?Even more interesting is that there is a castle, built in the 1800s, along the lake with the most beautiful and extensive gardens. We walked out to the castle to take in the view and the gardens and were quite surprised!
The castle. Originally built by a man and his American wife, he ended up kicking out about 244 people who lived in the area in order to have his land. His wife built upon the gardens after he died and was always remembered favorably (as compared to her husband).
There are multiple gardens... a pleasure garden with exotic plants from all over the world, a walled garden for vegetables, tulips, and more. And other smaller gardens scattered around the grounds. I almost could picture being in the book "The Secret Garden" or something like that. It was a lovely place.We continued west across the highlands and were pleasantly surprised when we reached the coast. The brown boglands and treeless mountains gave way to golden beaches and crashing blue-green waves. Our B&B was right on a cute, tiny harbor with working fishing boats (all very old, wooden style).
Still relishing in the sun, we went to the beach before dinner. There is just an old ship sitting out in the middle of the bay.
Us at the beach. The water was such a pretty blue-green color and the sun was warm off the golden sand. Atlantic beaches are much nicer than Pacific beaches!
A rainbow as we returned to Bunbeg House (our B&B) for the night! We wanted to look for a pot of gold (since we were in Ireland) but the end kept moving as we drove!
This is a view as we were driving up and out of the area where Bunbeg was the following morning. There were old rock walls and cottages amidst all the newer houses. A very rural and somewhat wild appearing area. Yet, from what we understand, this is also a growing vacation area and more people show up in the summer to enjoy the beaches.
As we continued our coastal drive, we stopped at Horn Head, a peninsula that used to be an island. It has a windswept terrain... no trees and only scrubby, low growing plants. Yet, the view of the shoreline was fantastic as well as the cliffs. Above we are at a lookout at the summit of Horn Head.
Here is a view of the cliffs at Horn Head. I kept reminding Chet not to fall (not that he wanted to anyway!). The road up and down was super narrow with old rock walls and sheep on both sides... luckily we didn't meet anyone on the road to figure out how to get past!
So, based on Google maps, we found a B&B in a small town near the most northern point of Ireland, Malin Head. The Seaview Tavern appeared to have nice rooms online... we showed up and the rooms are actually right above the restaurant and bar! That was a bit of a surprise but the rooms were even more of a surprise. Our room was beautiful and modern with views of the mountains from one set of windows and the above view of the sea from the other set. Oh, and very friendly people also!
We went to Malin Head, the official most northern point of Ireland. There we climbed around on the rocks and basked in the sun. We lucked out on yet another rainless day.
For the longest time, we just watched the waves crash against the rocks. So beautiful and powerful, yet, peaceful.
Dinner at the Seaview Tavern, where our room is at near Malin Head. The food was amazing! This was crab mornay... basically a white wine cream sauce with cheese bubbly and baked on top... all in a crab shell. The crab was fresh from the harbor in town that day. :)
After dinner, we went for a walk down the road (in the midst of locals stopping to chat in their cars, everyone doing the hand-on-the-steering-wheel wave, cows mooing and tractors plugging by), to the "Wee House of Malin" and the 15th century church (now ruins). Apparently, a hermit once lived in the Wee House of Malin and the story is that no matter how many people show up, the "house" always has more room.
We climbed up on a rock jutting out into the ocean for the fun of it. Chet was throwing rocks in the water wearing his snazzy new NW 200 fleece!The last couple days with the small towns, coastal scenery and laid-back pace have been just what we've needed. We've seen some new things but also relaxed... probably a good way to let out trip wind to a close so that we are ready to head home on Wednesday.
Much love, Brianne
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