Hiking in Ireland – 1

August 12-21, Road Scholar hiking trip on the west coast of Ireland

Getting there: Raleigh to Detroit to Amsterdam to Belfast to Letterkenny

I met up with my daughter Nancy in the Amsterdam airport.

My Google document apparently thought I was instantly fluent in Dutch…

The flight to Belfast was on a smaller plane, and we asked a young man to switch seats with Nancy so we could sit together. The flight attendant made an announcement about not switching seats and that they would come around and check everyone’s ticket—but of course they did no such thing.

We sat in the Belfast airport for three hours, waiting for five other participants to arrive on a later flight.

Jet lag is brutal! We had a three-hour drive from Belfast (Northern Ireland) to Letterkenny (Republic of Ireland).

Bathroom and snack break at a gas station.

Londonderry is still in the UK, on one side of the border.

And then, suddenly, you’re in another country!

There is no checkpoint or border control, which was one condition of the Good Friday treaty of 1998 at the end of the Troubles.

After a solid night’s sleep and a hearty breakfast in Letterkenny, we drove to Glenveagh National Park for our first hike.

We’re ready!

Our tour guide for the trip is Shane Reidy, from County Kerry in the south.

20% of Ireland’s landmass is bogland. It’s carbon-rich and very acidic, and therefore is of little use for agriculture.

I stopped at the fenceline to take a picture of . . .

. . . a Meadow Pipit.

The broad path led gently down the valley to the lake.

Our first European Robin of the day, the original “Robin Redbreast.”

Our American Robin is actually a species of thrush, bears little resemblance to this bird, and was badly mis-named.

Meanwhile, Nancy found a slug.

Ireland’s climate is very similar to western Washington, and some of the plants were quite familiar.

The one-time hunting and fishing hut now has some educational displays–all in Gaelic.

The last section of the morning’s hike was along Lough Veagh (Lake Veagh). We are heading to a castle.

Only about 2% of the population speak Gaelic as their primary language (the British had banned it), but now it is a regular school subject, so many more people speak “some” and can at least understand basic conversations.

Glenveagh Castle was a vanity project, built in 1869 by “Black Jack” Adair, who brutally evicted 44 of his tenant families for the proposed estate, relegating them to the poorhouse or on a ship to Australia.

After arriving at the castle grounds, we did a one-mile loop up to an overlook.

We ate lunch in the castle courtyard.

The Robins were quite bold, hopping around the tables looking for tasty morsels.

(Their friend Sue wasn’t able to make the trip. )

Nancy and I had a wee ramble before the group re-gathered.

The final private owner, Henry McIlhenny of Philadelphia, built the heated swimming pool for his guests, which included Greta Garbo.

Nancy said that climbing up the spiral staircase of the tower reminded her of her childhood–wherein we climbed up many a church spire!

Across the lake there is a small patch of trees. The National Park built a fence to keep out the destructive non-native deer, and that area reforested naturally with birch trees. On this side of the lake they set up extensive fencing, culled the roe deer with bullets, and have an ambitious, 100-year project to re-introduce a variety of native tree species. There’s a nation-wide reforestation effort.

This was Henry McIlhenny’s favorite place to sit, with a fine view of Lough Veagh.

Salal — another plant common in the Pacific Northwest.

Oona led us on a guided tour of the castle grounds and gardens.

The final owner bequeathed the property to Ireland, and it quickly was established as a national park, one of six in the country.

Various owners brought back plants and artifacts from their extensive travels, to add to the gardens.

Oona told us the colors of the ceiling represented the sky and clouds, but it’s obvious it’s a traditional Carolina Blue. Maybe the owner was a Tarheel fan!

After the tour we made our way back to Letterkenny and walked up to the Yellow Pepper for dinner.

Maybe I’ll see this delightful bird on tomorrow’s hike!