May 13 - Donegal

Day 5 - Monday, May 13, 2002

This is the day the rain gear we brought began to pay off. We woke up to a steady drizzle that stuck around the entire morning. We had our breakfast in the solarium over looking the water. Despite the weather, the view was beautiful. We packed up and made the drive into Letterkenny in a pouring rain. We were told that the one hour photo shop was on Main Street, but that doesn't mean much. It's hard to find any street signs in most towns in Ireland. We got into town and parked the car and figured we would ask where to find the shop. We walked a block and were standing right in front of it. I dropped the film off and we wandered around some shops, I bought a Donegal wool sweater and Felicity started in on the gift buying. We found a little bistro and I went to pick up the pictures while Felicity ordered the food. The moment of truth was at hand. Had I fixed the camera?..........Success!!!!! The pictures were fine.

We decided to head back out to Fanad because the weather was terrible inland but apparently in wasn't raining along the coast. That turned out to be true, but it was still pretty cloudy. The flaw in all of this was that the rain and the camera caused us to miss Glenveigh National Park. I guess we'll have to come back next year. This time we took the west coast roads back from Fanad Head and then picked up the main road towards Donegal. By the time we got inland, the clouds and rain had cleared. Though we missed the National Park, it was refreshing to drive on a major road for a change.

Getting to Killybegs was quite easy but somehow I had gotten the idea that the B&B was west of Killybegs. so we drove and drove and finally stopped and asked a fellow for advice. He pointed us in the right direction and we finally found the road on the other side of town. Ahhh, the road to the "Credo House".....another classic Irish road. On the way, you cross a bridge that is just wide enough for the car. Of course, you approach the bridge from blind corners. We made it through and to the B&B. I was disappointed at first because the view was of the harbor and just a bunch of big fishing trawlers. As it turns out, it was kind of pretty at night. We were the only ones staying there for the two nights and he was going to close to have his driveway paved after we left. The house itself was beautiful and the decorations were very cool. Our bathroom had an operating porthole. You can't beat that!

We went looking for a place to eat and drove around a bit. I had planned to surprise Felicity by taking her to the pub that we had a picture of on a wall hanging. The Rusty Mackerel appears in other publications too. I couldn't find it on my own, so I asked for directions. The directions I got took me to where I had been, but I figured somehow I must have missed the bright pink building. No sign of it, but I did see a place that was a different color and had a different name that looked like a possibility. None-the-less, I headed back into Carrick and asked for directions again. I got the directions and as I was leaving, I asked if the name of the place may have changed from the Rusty Mackerel. Well, of course it had! It was now the Cul-a-duin. I guess that was a part of the information they had forgotten. But she said I couldn't miss it because it was a bright reddish color. Could it have been painted since then I asked? "Well, I guess it could have." she responded. It was the one I had passed many times at this point. It was beige. So we went out there and it was the classic old pub. All the signs were in Gaelic and the bartender was nice enough to let us know which was the ladies and gents toilets. We had a great chat with her and were told that the owners were well known musicians and played there on the weekends. Alas we would be long gone by the weekend.

It should be mentioned that we took the scenic coastal drive option on the way to Carrick. This is highly recommended. The views from this road and the coastal route to Kilcar are amazing! The picture at the right is from the coast road to Carrick.

Unfortunately, the Cul-a-duin didn't serve food so we headed back to Killybegs for dinner. It turns out, lots of places close early on Monday in Killybegs. We ended up eating at a take out place and I must say, it was nothing to write home about. Oh well, we were about to pass out from starvation at that point, and I'd had my beer at the Cul-a-duin. Back to the Credo House for the night...

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