Sunday, June 19 - Sligo to Donegal

Before we headed out the door for the next leg of our journey, Mary treated us to a traditional Irish breakfast - eggs, rashers, sausage, pudding, toast, cereal, brown bread, and tea. What a great start to our day! We also celebrated Fathers' Day by presenting Tom and Will with Aran-design sweaters the girls and I chose for them while shopping in Westport a few days ago. After heartfelt thank yous to Mary for a wonderful time, and a promise to meet up with her, Tom, and Molly later in the week in Dublin, we loaded our bags into the car and took off for Sligo. The Sligo area is known as W.B. Yeats country. Meghan asked to stop off in town and view the Yeats statue, memorial building, and library.

Just outside of town, we happened by chance, upon Drumcliffe which is home to St. Columba’s Church and is best known as the final resting place of the poet William Butler Yeats (1865-1939). The church is named after St. Columcille who founded a monastery on the site in 574. The church has been in continuous use since that time and has an active congregation even today.

Found on the site is the Drumcliffe High Cross. The cross has carvings on it representing Biblical scenes and was used for teaching the Christian faith to pilgrims visiting the monastery.

The Round Tower was used as a bell tower in later years, but was first used as a refuge against plundering Vikings and local Chieftains. The doorway to the round tower is high up off the ground and a ladder is needed to enter the doorway. This was done so the ladder could be brought in if invaders were attacking. Local legend says the tower will fall down when the wisest man in the world passes under it. Believe it or not, it is still standing after a visit by the Davys . . . J

William Butler Yeats was buried at St. Columba’s because of a family connection to the church. His great-grandfather, John Yeats, was Rector of the church in the early nineteenth century. W.B. Yeats asked to be buried under the shadow of Ben Bulben Mountain in County Sligo, Ireland in the cemetery of St. Columba. Yeats is considered a literary genius and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923. He wrote his own epitaph for his headstone which reads: "Cast a cold Eye on Life, on Death; Horseman, pass by!"

One of my favorite Yeats verses is “Tread softly because you tread on my dreams”. This was a beautiful, peaceful place and we were sorry we couldn’t spend more time there.

We got back on the road and headed into Donegal where we are getting close to the border with Northern Ireland. We see signs in some businesses that say “Sterling 15% extra”. This refers to Northern Ireland which has the same monetary exchange as Great Britain – pounds sterling, while the Republic of Ireland uses Euros. The Euro monetary system has been easy for us to manage – it’s all based on a system of 10. Luckily, since 1971, the British changed their pounds, pence, etc. to a system of ten as well (100 pence = 1 pound), but we will have to get up to speed with the look of their coins since they don’t usually put the monetary value on the coins. I did learn that the English term “pound” in reference to money came into use in the Middle Ages when 240 pennies equaled one pound of silver in weight.

We didn’t make reservations ahead for lodging tonight, but happened upon a most charming B&B just across the river from Donegal Castle. In fact, we have a view of the castle from our bedroom window. The proprietors, Steve and Bernie McGrory who run The Bridges B&B have been very welcoming.

Will and Meghan ended the evening at “The Reel Inn” where an evening of traditional Irish music and dance was in store. It was a great time and fun to see the dancers and musicians. Tomorrow, after exploring Donegal and touring Donegal Castle, we will begin our journey east across Ireland and to our next stop - Strangford in County Down, south east of Belfast. We will be spending the next two days in Northern Ireland.