Portnoo to Westport, Day 7, August 26th

Beautiful day. Great amazing waiter at the white hotel started us well-nourished and well serviced. We took the final pictures of the beach and got on our way. The first stop was Donegal castle.

Very friendly guy at the reception gave us a flier for Loughrea Renaissance fair and gave kids stickers for finding everything they had to find at the castle. It is a small castle with a good history. We walked through town and made our way to the tourist information area where there was a food festival this weekend. 

The entry fee of 6 euro for adults alone was a bit much for such as small town and so only moms and kids went. It is interesting and different from other food fairs we’ve been too. Lots of muffins, sweets, & candies, followed by the different kinds of ciders, a little cheese, and next to no meat. Not your Lithuanian food fair. Boys made a wise choice.

He picks seaweed off the shore

We joined them and went to Donegal Craft Village – beautiful establishment outside town where several artists specializing in different mediums are working with their craft. Very impressive.

Net we saw the beautiful formations at Mullagmore, we’ve missed them last time and they are more than worth it. It makes sense to park in town and walk the loop around the outcrop, and maybe stop in for a swim. Because of the rocky outcrops that act as the natural wave breakers, the beach in town, though not the clearest the water is calm, the beach features incredible variety of shells, and locals in various stages of undress, dress, and over-dress.

We passed Drumcliff and Sligo, the latter seemed more up-beat than its yesterday’s counterpart but still downtrodden looking, and we decided to skip in favor of Carrowkeel Megalithic Cemetery. Aww, the best. Great hike, awesome sites. One of the passage graves had sank in. We stood on the stones and must have inadvertently disturbed a next of wild bees. They suddenly swarmed around us. We ran back down covering our faces with our rain jackets. Scary – and a bit of “Indiana-Jones” feel to it – bees decided to protect this grave and were pissed for us disturbing it.

Westport was our dinner stop. We so did not do it justice. One of the most charming cities we’ve seen. Now, this one had charm, and street musicians, and singing restaurant patrons, and flower basket from every bridge and window. Too bad most stores and coffee shops were already closed. We still had a great time. We landed at Lough Lannagh Lodge B&B at the Castlebar for the night.

We got “upgraded” to our own cottage w. Novichenoks. Felt a bit bad for the place –a large cottage built and furnished possibly in the 50s. One of them “sanatorium” looking ones. On one hand, nice to have so much room & all the ancient equipment looks really curious. On the other, that has not seen an upgrade in the last 50 years.

Kids spread out through the rooms. Adults stayed together and enjoyed each other’s company under accompaniment of Louis CK.