After leaving Derry I headed up to Malin Head, the most northerly part of mainland Ireland which does tend to confuse some people as Malin Head is in Co. Donegal in the Republic of Ireland and some people tend to think the most northerly part must be in Northern Ireland.
When arriving at Malin Head I saw around 30 runners waiting to start the Malin Head to Malin village road race, a distance of some 16 kilometres away all to raise money for the Royal National Lifeboat Association who operate in the UK and all of Ireland.
Leaving Malin I headed to a lovely site at Tullagh Bay which is near Clonmany. There are three sites at Tullagh Bay and all close to each other and the site I was booked into was the site owned by someone called Billy McVeigh. Billy was on hand to welcome me to his site then proceeded to ask where I had visited on my trip to Ireland. I duly answered him and he asked if I had been to Derry. To the innocent traveller with no knowledge of The Troubles in Northern Ireland this is a fairly innocuous questioned but this question told me Billy was most probably a Catholic as Catholics tend to use Derry rather than Londonderry which is used mainly by Protestants.
I said I had visited it and that I had visited it several times before. Billy then asked if I had seen the murals in the Bogside to which I said I had. He then asked if I had seen the mural of a young man holding a brick and about to throw it at the armoured car?
I said I had. He then asked if I had seen the documentary “Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland”?
I was now wondering where this conversation was going. I told him I had seen it a few months ago. He then said “did you see me in it?”
This took me by surprise as the people in the documentary were either former paramilitaries from both sides or were the victims of the them and although I had watched all the episodes I couldn’t remember seeing him in it.
I had to admit I couldn’t remember seeing him in it.
He then laughed and disappeared into his house only to reappear seconds later with a fridge magnet displaying the photo of the Derry mural of a youth about to throw a brick at an armoured car which he handed to me saying, “That’s me and I’ve signed it for you”.
After my initial disbelief and astonishment I said “now I know how I thought I knew the name of the youth in the mural I got it from the BBC documentary!
Later that day I rewatched episode 1 of the documentary and sure enough there was Billy talking about growing up in the Bogside and being part of Bloody Sunday. Billy described how he grew up in one of three Catholic families sharing a three bedroom house. He also spoke about the discrimination Catholics living in Derry faced and how this lead to the rise of the civil rights movement and how Billy became known as the “Best rioter in Derry”.
Tullagh Bay has a beautiful beach as can be seen in the photos above. The beach must be at least one mile long with golden sand. To the righthand side of the beach is a hill with what looks like a thin path leading up the hill to the summit. However it’s not a path it is in fact a famine wall. Famine walls are a series of walls that were built during the Great Famine, 1845 to 1852. The idea was rather than just give the poor food they’d have to earn it and the way to earn it was to help build the wall. The wall served not purpose other than give work in return for food.
Later that night I went to the local pub, The Rusty Nail, Billy had said there was music on in the bar so I went along and listened to song good local singers and musician play traditional and non traditional music and I had a few beers, it would be rude not to.
On leaving Tullagh Bay my plan was to visit Donagh Famine Village onroute to Buncrana and get the small ferry across Lough Swilly to Rathmullan, a place I have holidayed in twice before, and spend the night there before moving down to Letterkenney.
Donagh Famine Village website
The weather was wet and windy and when arriving at the ferry terminal I noticed the ferry was docked not at the slipway but further round the pier. This made me wonder if the ferry was cancelled as the lough was choppy and the wind was strong. The timetable said the ferry would leave in a few minutes time so I hung around to see if any the crew would turn up. No crew did turn up but a few cars and a campervan did but no ferry so a decision was made to miss out on the Rathmullan stop it was onward to Letterkenny for two nights.
I have visited Letterkenny many times the first was back in 1986 when it was a lot smaller and a lot poorer. Letterkenny is the largest town in the county, bigger than the county town, Donegal Town. It is also the closest town to where my grandfather was born and where the records for the area are kept and this was the reason for my visits in the past.
The town doesn’t have a campsite but the local Gaelic Football team, St Euanan’s GAA, have recently installed an 5 site aire. An aire is a place for motorhomes and caravans to stay the night they don’t usually have the same facilities as a campsite but don’t charge the same rate either. The aire at Letterkenny has 5 electrical hookup points and 2 showers and two toilets all of excellent cleanliness, which makes a huge difference.
An added bonus on the first night of my stay was that there was a football match that evening, not that I understand the game or know the rules.
By altering my plan and staying 2 nights in Letterkenny this gave me more time in the town than I had planned but that was a bad thing. I know my way around the town and I know what to see and what not to see.
The next morning my journey would take me through Glenveagh National Park to Burtonport and eventually to Dungloe.
Dungloe is famous for its Mary from Dunglow arts festival which has been running annually since 1967 and on arriving in the town the festival was in full flow which meant lots and lots of visitors.
The two big events that draws people from all over the world to Dungloe are The The Mary From Dungloe competition which is a celebration of Irish heritage, music, and culture. Each Mary brings her own unique talent to the competition be that traditional Irish music or modern music. They are also leaders in their communities, dedicated to promoting Irish culture and supporting charitable causes.
The other big event is the Mary From Dungloe parade which is a mixture of a children’s gala and a Notting Hill type carnival unfortunately I won’t see the parade as I’ll be in Belfast when the parade takes place.
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