Singing with the Cousins

 Yesterday was a low key travel day, without much exploring.  Marty was obsessed with the idea of fishing, and I soon found myself standing outside Dohert's Fishing Tackle Store in Donegal Town, while Marty was inside chatting it up with Mr. Doherty. 

It's a wee shop, on the corner of Main Street in Donegal.  The owner is a delightful, older gentleman, who was dressed in a suit and tie when he greeted Marty upon entry.  And he was generally interested in helping Marty determine just when the peak fishing hour would be.  

It seems that Mr. Doherty's opinion is that the best time to fish is when the tide is going out.  That was relief to my ears! Because, this meant that I would not have to feel obligated to stand around for hours waiting for Marty to catch a fish.  (You've probably realized by now that fishing is not my forte.)   But I was certainly happy to help him fulfill his dream. 

So, we drove out to Bridie and Martin’s home where I was able to enjoy the day chatting with Bridie. And, of course, there’s always the entertainment from this wee dog. 

Marty never did catch a fish but Martin did, which is equally exciting in the eyes of a fisherman.  It was a Pollack. 

And we learned that there was an "after fishing" stop at the pub, because Martin definitely needed to introduce Marty to another cousin. (I think the entire town might be his cousin.)

So it was nearly six when the men and the fish arrived at the door. Bridie served us a lovely dinner and afterwards, family once again came rolling in, ready for an evening of old fashioned fun.

Tony was ready with his harmonica and guitar, and Marty had carried his ukelele all the way from home just for this moment.  The songbook with ballads written by Annie Burke’s husband, daddy to these cousins, was pulled out. And there were multiple copies!

It soon became obvious that Tony, who is a son in law of the author, was quite familiars with these songs as he didn’t even need to reference the book as he sang and played. 

It was all great fun, and we learned that the ballads were all written by Jim Burke with each representing a personal experience in the life of this obviously talented man.

One song, in particular, was a real favorite because nearly every neighbor had an active part in the story.  

The evening was filled with lots of  laughing and pure enjoyment. And one could easily imagine all of the fun this family had growing up with such a clever and talented man to call daddy. 

Honestly, when the singing was over, it was really difficult to leave.  I’ve mentioned before how it stays light long here so it was kind of surprising to see that we had been enjoying our camaraderie so much that time had somehow slipped to midnight when we headed to the car to drive back to our B&B. 

This morning, leaving is a bittersweet feeling for me. We obviously have to move on to our next destination, but part of me just wants to join up with this fun crowd again for the day, and just kick back our heels and enjoy their company one more time. 

Many thanks to all of you "cousins", for memories that I will always cherish! 

Discovering Donegal

 Today's adventures took us on the road to Glenveagh National Park located in the northern area of County Donegal. The drive was relatively easy, and we didn't even get lost this time! Well, at least not driving.  We arrived at the Visitor Center, looking for a detailed map to help us on our quest for the castle, and the only thing I could find was a picture on the wall, so I took a photo of it on my phone.  

It did not, however, show one exactly how to leave the Visitor center to access the path, and there were busloads of people shuffling in through the doors, allowing no mercy for us to escape.  So, after a bit of a run around, we finally did manage to find the path to start the 4 kilometer walk to the castle.  We could have taken the bus, but then, we would have missed so much beauty along the way. 

Scenic vistas.

Beautiful lily pads floating in the lough.

A few stags.

And, finally, the entrance to the castle grounds which feature two dog statues, each holding a basket. 

and the castle directly in front of us!

We walked to the round tower on the grounds and climbed up the stairs for a different view.

Then, around the corner to the back side

which featured a small garden to the right.

Then, we ventured along the grounds to the walled garden in the back. 

It was loaded with dozens of beautiful blooms.

From there, we began the hike to the viewpoint, which I must say, was pretty challenging.  There were 67 steps at the bottom, that led to quite a steep walkway until we finally got to the top.  Pretty amazing view, isn't it?

I was lucky to have carried these hiking poles that Marty had bought me for Christmas.  Believe me....they certainly came in handy as the walkway had some pretty steep inclines to have to maneuver. 

All of the hiking warranted some tea and scones, of course. 

Just what we needed to make the long trek back to the visitor center!

From there, we headed out along the Wild Atlantic Way again, stopping at a few vantage points to enjoy the scenic views.

We were quite surprised to see a Coffee hut at this viewpoint!  Obviously we didn't need that, so we continued on our way.

The Wild Atlantic Way wove us in and out of little villages along the coast, and we occasionally stopped and popped out to take a quick look as we drove along.  It was a pretty amazing sight, for sure. 

The tide was out, so no leaping salmon to be seen.

And a different village with yet another view leading to the Atlantic. 

And, finally, the road down to Inver on our way back to the B&B.  It was especially spectacular since the sun decided shine for the rest of our day!

Dinner was once again at Dom's pier, where Marty had reserved a table overlooking the bay, also enhanced by the sunshine.

We stayed and listened to some local musicians play some Irish songs, only this time, they were more folk music than ballads.  There was quite a crowd in the restaurant as there are two weddings locally tomorrow, and people were already celebrating!  So, we headed back to the quiet of our B&B which really is a welcome haven.  

Yet another fabulous day to add to our adventures.  Hope you enjoyed following along. 

Irish Roots

Most of you know that I am an avid fan of genealogy, so it should come as no surprise that we are delving into some of Marty's family history here in County Donegal, where his maternal great grandmother, Mary Harvey was born.  

She emigrated to the United States along with several of her siblings, sometime in the 1890s, but she also had several siblings who chose to stay in Fosses.  The youngest son, William, was one of them, and the house where the family was born still stands, used as a storage shed in the present day.  A new house was built directly in front over time, and it was modernized in 1950s to add a bit more room.

When I was planning the trip, I was sure to reach out to the family to let them know that we would be in the area, and true to form, the family that continues to live locally was extremely excited to spend time with us.  So much so, that they came just after breakfast yesterday, and whisked us away to the old homestead to rekindle the relationship that we had forged 10 years ago, when we made the trip from Scotland to visit William's daughter, Annie, whom I had been genealogy pen pals with for many years.

Here's a photo of Marty and me with three of Annie's daughters, standing in front of the original house where the Harvey family was born and raised. 

 

These women are absolutely delightful, and so eager to want to share their family history.  I can't say that I've met a more close knit family, and the welcome that they offer is beyond comparison. 

There were 11 of them:  six girls and five boys, and they all were raised in the three bedroom house that was shared with their grandparents.   When the grandparents passed, the girls shared one room while the boys had the other.  Kind of an amazing story to hear in this day and age.  

The took us for a walk down the road so that we could see the houses of the other family members who had worked these fields so many years ago.

The stone buildings stand in rubble but the majority of the land continues to be unspoiled. 

Pretty amazing scenery, isn't it? 

And, here is a view from the front door of the house.  You can see Marty with his cousins at the end of the driveway, returning from our wee walk. 

I recall asking Annie, who was close to 90 at the time,  what it was like looking out at such an amazing view every day.  She looked me straight in the face and quite frankly told me that when she was raising eleven children she never had time to look out the window, so she had never given much thought to it.  What a spitfire!

We moved onto Bridie's house for lunch, and her husband, Martin, took this photo of us, which includes yet another sister, and her daughter, added to the group.

Martin then took Marty to St. John's point for some fishing.  This is his photo as I didn't go along.

I was being entertained by the women, being offered a hot toddy to drink.

while Bridie's wee dog was seeking some attention from me.  He truly was delightful.

And, here's a selfie of Marty and Martin.  Of course he couldn't resist that opportunity!

We ended up staying the entire day, and arrived back at our B&B at 10:00 at night.  It's difficult to judge the time as it was still light even when we returned!

I'll leave with just one funny story.  When we visited ten years ago, Marty and I had taken a photo with Annie.  We had it printed up and I purchased a special frame in a shop in the town.  We gave Annie the photo in the frame as a wee gift upon leaving.  Well, apparently Annie found that to be extremely special, as it was still in her old bedroom in the house.  Her one daughter amusingly told us that she knew that we had to be very special, because her mum had no photos in her room of any of her children.  Just one of the pope, and this framed photo of the three of us.  I suppose we must have rated pretty high in her eyes!