My ipad travel blog: Donegal on Friday

Friday was our day to go to Donegal. Patricia's tummy had been upset, and after she took a look at our proposed journey with its many twisty roads, she elected to stay home. Our goal was Dunfanaghy but going to Greencastle and to Port Salon and Downings first. We were seeking the dramatic Atlantic Ocean route.

With a bit of difficulty we reached Castle Rock (a lovely town,not on our map of Ireland for some reason and then Greencastle where we were able to take the ferry from Northern Ireland into Donegal, back in the Republic.

We were shocked when we got out of the car as the temperature had really dropped and it was freezing cold with a strong wind.

When I saw the small cafe was opening I went in to grab a cappuccino and also discovered a small museum, The Shackleton Museumdedicated to the history of Irish aviation. and, yes that is the same Shackleton, we know as a polar explorer. Greencastle seems to be the Kitty Hawk of Northern Ireland as those strong winds must have been helpful getting early aircraft off the ground. But today we were just taking a very short ferry ride.

We liked Donegal as soon as we arrived. The scenery was lovely and homes and farms very well kept.
Our first goal was to reach Fanad Head. We eventually reached a charming town, Ramelton.

Here we had a great lunch at the charming The Riverfront Cafe

From here we travelled north

until we reached Fanad Head. It was very beautiful but we had already had our share of twisty, narrow roads and there were more to come as we sought the elusive new Harry Blaney Bridge (also known as the Mulroy Bridge) to take us from Fanad Peninsula to Rosguill Pennsula. We eventually were successful and were on away along the Atlantic Route.

Beautiful but we thought it would feel rather cold and windy and isolated in the winter!

We all decided that our initial plan was too ambitious and that driving on narrow twisting roads was becoming less and less enjoyable. I have to say I was glad I had bought Gravel and moved to the front seat for the day. We decided to head for home and wider roads.

Unfortunately the Skoda's gear shifting was getting worse and worse and as we neared Letterkenny there was the unmistakable smell of a burning clutch. At Dublin Airport our first car was too small for our luggage. The second car that we paid more for had a clutch that smelled as soon as we started driving so then we ended up with this car, and it had always been difficult to get it into second gear. Please note that we rented a standard as it was less expensive but only Sue and Irene can drive a standard so I am no expert on any of this.

Sue managed to park the car by a real estate office on the Upper Main Street and we are very grateful for the kindness of the staff at McGlynn's Estate Agencyand at the Gallagher Hotel as they enabled us to coordinate operations with EuropaCar, and let Patricia know why we would be four hours late returning.