We continue on, passing through another beautiful peninsula on the northern side of Ireland. County Donegal is a place to see. We’ve timed the weather perfectly. If you want to go swimming, wait until June. If you come in March, bring a light jacket, and prepare for variability and the wind. But do come. It’s a beautiful place, as I have feebly tried to show you here. We’ve got one more day here, but we’re already scheming for our return. How could you not come back?
Ros Goill is heathland and bog, hill and pasture. There are nearly 800 people living here, with about a third being native Irish speakers. There’s still the weekly Gaelic football match and traditional music at night.
Across the way here is Dooey, the sandy place. Many of the places here are named after landscape features. Dinn a’ Deidadh is the cliff of the sharp teeth, for instance. Poll na Murlas is the hole of the mackerel.
You wonder how the mackerel felt about that name when they first heard about it. Dooey is just on the horizon here. Off in the distance is Sheephaven Bay, a big game fishing destination. Giant bluefin tuna is the catch of choice. Apparently, when you get off the big road and up into the peninsula here you get a taste of the traditional Ireland.
Just up from the Ros Goill marker, you round a curve and with no warning, no pull off, no parking lot, no nothing, you get this view. Click to open it in another window to get the full effect.
That’s just Ireland for you, round a bend, see something amazing. And the Wild Atlantic Way is perhaps some of the best of it. Of course we’re planning how and when we’ll come back.
