1/5/08

Another beautiful day dawned on us!! Alas, half an hour later it
rained - it was only a 10 minute shower, but that was the story of the
day. After making french toast out of our fast deteriorating bread we
said goodbye to our private beach and headed for the Glenveagh
National Park.
In 1983 the Glenveagh Castle (hunting lodge and summer residence)
along with it's beautiful Victorian themed gardens were gifted to the
state and have been maintained and restored by Office of Public Works
- cheers Irish Heritage once again for a 'free' informative tour but
pricey teashop.
We had walked the 4km (instead of paying for the minibus) from the
visitors centre to the Castle getting caught in one of those 10min
showers along the way, but relaxing by the lakeside pool (now
lilypond) in the afternoon sun more than made up for it.
Also what seemed like hours (it was probably only 10 minutes) of Marea
chasing Robin's around in the garden finally was rewarded with some
magnificent close-ups of the little happy bird!!!
About 1600 we headed for Derry as the Irish say it, or Londonderry as
Tomtom saids. Along the way we read that Derry is one of the only
fully walled cities left in Europe and that it has a poignant history
of 'troubles' especially of 'Bloody Sunday' in 1972.
So we walked along the city walls with it's eight gateways past the
scenes of numerous historical defences and more recently IRA bombings
and down from the old town into Free Derry and the scene of many
bloody Republican and Loyalist clashes.
We left Derry with a greater appreciation for the 'troubles' that
Derry has been through but also relieved to leave it behind; the cities
scars are so deep and so recent that most shops and buildings in town
are still boarded up at night. I guess it kind of makes sense that
even now after a number of years of peace, there is still a lack of
investment about?