Ireland day 0631. Wednesday 21 June 2023- Donegal 05 *

Ireland day 0631. Wednesday 21 June 2023- Donegal 05

Today’s summary	Drove back from Donegal via Letterkenny and Derry. Walked round the Derry walls and over the Peace Bridge
Today’s weather	Overcast with some showers most of the day. Almost no wind. Appx 20C

Today’s overview location (The grey mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The orange line shows where we walked) (Click button below to download GPX of today’s walk as recorded, or see interactive map at bottom with elevations corrected): Derry Londonderry

Commentary

(Summary blog only. Last full blog was Day 0368).

Sadly our Donegal holiday came to an end today. But rather than driving straight back down to Malahide, we stopped off in Letterkenny, Co. Donegal (only briefly to post a letter) and then across the border in Derry/Londonderry, Co. Derry on the way.

We had a good look round Derry/Londonderry as neither of knew much about it apart from what we had seen and heard on the news in the 1970s. Which was often not happy. We had a good look round the magnificent Guildhall and impressive exhibitions of John Hume’s Nobel peace prize and also one about the Ulster Plantations (we learned a lot in both). Then after stopping at a nice café for late lunch, we walked round the city walls (I never even knew the city had walls, until I came to Ireland) and peered from the walls into the old city and over to the much newer Bogside housing estate.

Once the circuit was complete, we walked across the Peace bridge – a magnificent structure crossing the River Foyle linking the main city to the Clooney district. We came away impressed with the city itself and with the friendliness and pride of the people who lived in it.

A straightforward and quick drive down the A5 / N2 to Malahide saw us back in the flat by 9pm, leaving us time to enjoy a glass of wine and reflect on an absolutely excellent mini-break which left us yearning to go back.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


In the Guildhall, admiring some of the many magnificent stained glass windows	John Hume’s Nobel Peace prize – for his work on the Good Friday Agreement which ended the Troubles

Val in her natural setting! Costume dressing in the Guildhall	Ascending the City Walls. They were built in 1613-1618 and are some of the finest and most complete such walls in Europe

View of the old city from the city walls	The Peace bridge, part funded by the EU. how times have changed.

Overlooking the Bogside from the city walls