Leaving Ireland for the Republic of Ireland and the UK
Once again back on the road and this time to Londonderry or “Derry” as the locals say. It’s about a 2-hour drive from Sligo and in Northern Ireland, part of the UK. Derry is the second largest city in Northern Ireland and was founded in 1613 through a charter from King James I which is why “London” was added, to show a little respect for the guy who has the money.
Unique to Derry are the city walls. Still intact, Derry is the only city in Ireland that is completely surrounded by walls, and the only city in Europe completely surrounded by walls! The walls were built around 1613-1619 as defenses for the early settlers. The city has been attacked many times over history but the walls were never breached, even after the siege of 1689 which lasted 105 days!
One of the 8 gates into the city
Cannon on the city wall
Derry also played a significant role in WW2. During the war, Derry, Northern Ireland served as an Allied base housing British, Irish and American troops. American troops were actually in Northern Ireland (March 1942) before the US officially entered the war as part of the “staging” effort. The US Army Air Force and 1st Provisional Marine Corps were stationed on the grounds where our B&B resides. Beech Hill Country House B&B is our home for the night and has hosted US service men, US Presidents and now the Parker Gang. What more could they ask for?
We’re only here for one night so we’ll do the HOHO bus tour again and then walk around to see the sites. Of additional importance, and some may say more so than ancient history, are the events surrounding the Battle of Bogside or “Bloody Sunday”. 30 January 1972 in Bogside Derry, British soldiers open fired on a peaceful civilian protest killing 28 people, including many only 17 years of age, shot in the back while running away or crawling on the ground.
Not sure why Mother Teresa has a black eye….
Depiction of peace march on Bloody Sunday
Young girl who lost her life during one of the battles
Over the years several review boards and investigations have been held and many discounted the soldiers accounts of what had caused the shooting. Yet, as late as 2015 none of the soldiers involved have had any charges raised against them. So this began the era known as, “The Troubles” which, believe it or not, still goes on to some extent today.
Sorry for the long-winded discussion above but this is very much the focus of Northern Ireland today. Our HOHO tour was focused on these events and those that came after Bloody Sunday. We all agreed that it would be in the best interest of Northern Ireland to move on from these times, don’t forget but also don’t dwell.
We checked into the B&B and settled down for the evening. Dinner would be at the Beech House giving us a chance to relax and enjoy the beautiful rooms and grounds. Tomorrow off to the coast and then to Belfast for the last new city on our adventure.
Our sweet suite
Da Gang!
Up early for breakfast and off to the northern coast of Ireland to see the sites. Dunluce castle is the first stop and is said to be the most photographed castle in Northern Ireland. Originally built in the 13th century by the McQuillan family who became, “Lords of the Route”, a designation they held for some 300 years. Along comes the MacDonnell clan in late 1600’s to become the new residents at the castle, after a wee it of convincing, siege style!
Russ
Dunluce Castle (pronounced, “Done Loose”)
Well what comes around…..the town which sprang up next to the castle in 1608 is burned to the ground by the Irish in 1641 and the MacDonnell’s lose their provisional arse around 1690 while participating in the Battle of the Boyne. The castle falls into disrepair, the MacDonnells move out and the rest is history until Game of Thrones comes along.
“What the hell are you talking about, Game of Thrones?”, you might ask. Yup, Dunluce castle was used as the House of Greyjoy in the series. Must have been a significant amount of computer generated reconstruction!
After a really good tour of the castle, we drove over to the Giant’s Causeway, a natural basalt geological feature that just happened to fit nicely with local folklore. Last time we were here was on a bus tour from Belfast and were told to walk around the building and go straight to the beach unless we wanted to pay to go into the visitor’s center. This time there were guards making everyone go into the visitor’s center and pay their fee to see this natural occurring geological amazement that takes absolutely 0$ to maintain. Doesn’t cost that much and it is really a neat site so in we go to the beach.
Local legend has it that a giant built this causeway so he could walk over to Scotland and beat up their giant. Cool McFinn, strolled over to Scotland only to find that their giant was really big, so big that he decided it was better to run away and live to fight another day so he hauled arse. Followed closely by the Scottish giant, Benandonner, McFinn was about to be whooped on had it not been for his quick thinking wife who dressed McFinn as a baby to hide him. Benandonner saw the size of this baby and thought that the Dad must be really big so he ran back to Scotland and tore out the walkway as he ran leaving only the stones on the beach.
What really happened was a volcanic eruption 60 million years ago and there you have it, 40,000 basalt columns. Not quite as interesting, huh.
Giants Causeway
Cool McFinn’s chimney
Now for the best part, off to Bushmills Distillery! OK not the best but still a neat tour, and this one actually is a tour of the distillery. Since 1608 they’ve been brewing Bushmills whiskey here in Northern Ireland. Now owned by Tequila Cuervo La Rojena (yeah, that’s the Jose Cuervo folks), Bushmills produces single malt whiskey here, which means everything in the bottle came from one location (distillery), right here. At the end of the tour, like all tours, there is a tasting. Now as for me and the Misses, not much of a whiskey enthusiast. And we’re finding out that our fellow adventurers are not much for Bushmills and prefer Jameson’s whiskey. Either way, we took the tour so down what you can and lets move on.
Next stop is Belfast for more eating, touring, eating, drinking and eating!