Tuesday, October 7, 2014

It was cold this morning as we waited for our bus from Galway City to Donegal Town (as opposed to Galway and Donegal Counties). I’m wearing four layers and wishing I had mitts with me!

Although I have trouble keeping awake on these long bus trips, I did notice the countryside changing as we moved north. The long expanses of green have been replaced by rougher looking fields and hills. The trees are much bigger here; we passed by a sign pointing to a forest walk, although the trees I saw in the distance wouldn’t have qualified as a forest back home. As we left Sligo there were huge hills on one side of the bus and stretches of the Atlantic Ocean on the other. I saw a few horses in the fields, but the animals we’re predominantly sheep and cattle, often within the same pasture. There are fewer stone fences in the fields.

Our cottage is about four kilometers out of town and that is going to be a bit of an issue. The place was advertised as “self-service”; we knew we would be dependent on cabs to get to and from town, but we did expect a phone in the place. We’ll book cabs when we are in town and hope they come to the cottage to pick us up at the appointed time. Deloise and Stacia raved about their cab drivers when they were in Ireland so we think we’ll be fine.

If we were stranded, we couldn’t ask for a nicer place. The three-bedroom cottage is lovely with views to Donegal Bay and the golf course. There are baskets of books in every room – I wish I had brought a “real” book so I could take one and leave one! Deciding which one to take though might have been too taxing – this is a vacation after all. Vacation or not, we have a washer and drier and we’ll be using them while we are here.

We’ll test our cab theory tonight; we have one booked to take us back to town for the evening. We’ll find some supper and then head to a pub for another night of music. The Craft Village and a wool shop are on the list for tomorrow. Sadly the forecast is calling for rain.

Location:Donegal, Ireland