TO THE REPUBLIC

Date:  Sept 13, 2014.
Our last day in Northern Ireland and it’s off to the Republic.  Detoxed with fruit, porridge, & yoghurt for breakfast and a farewell to Maggie.  We took an inland route, not wanting to repeat our coastal drive of yesterday.  Seems like every cyclist in Ireland is out today, and it’s difficult to pass on these narrow roads.  We skirted northerly past Londonderry and entered the Republic at Bridge End across the River Foyle, at the bottom of the Donegal peninsula.  Back in the land of euros where, hopefully, a euro is a euro . . .  Went through Letterkenney.  Not much to report.  We did not stop at this “American” diner, and wondered if it was something exotic for the locals to patronize.  We tried to find the Grianan Aileach  “ring” fort out in the boonies, but apparently drove by the entrance without realizing it.
We did manage to find the NewMills corn and flax mill.  “Corn” means oats, in Ireland.  Our corn is called maize.  This mill was built in the 1860’s, and re-installed here in 1907, and is still operational for demonstration purposes.  Not working on our day, but we had a nice tour through the machinery.  The setting is idyllic.

The waterwheel is powered by the River Swilly, and makes 5 revolutions per minute, generating about 8 horsepower.


It’s not turned by the direct flow of the river, but rather by water spilling from a long trough.  You can see the trough above as the black beam-looking structure extending horizontally to the left of the wheel.  The water today was being diverted before the wheel, hence the outflow seen at the left.  The spillway trough is only 2” deep, but that was enough to turn the wheel.  One of the functions of the mill was to create flax needed for making linen.  This was a dusty, numbing job. 

The coming of nylon, rayon, etc., killed off the industry in the 1950’s.  We
We were suckered in by the Lonely Planet guidebook’s description of the Glebe Gallery as a “trip highlight.”  Calls into question the usefulness of that book.  All we saw was a display of utterly lousy pottery.  The works of art were housed separately, for a substantial tour fee (which wouldn’t start for another hour and a half), and consisted entirely of the works of Derrick Hill, an English painter I wouldn’t know from Adam.  So, we skipped.
Our lodging for tonight and tomorrow will be at the Eas Dun Lodge at Lough Eske, 7 miles from Donegal Town.  This turned out to be a much more modern place than Maggie’s, but beautifully set up.  4-star all the way, purpose-built as a 6-room B&B lodge.

Dinner was at the Olde Castle Bar Restaurant in Donegal Town.  I usually try to avoid anything with “olde” in its name, but this turned out to be a great choice.  I had a great lamb shank and Loni had a veggie curry with mint couscous.  Sorry, no pics.  But a nice way to end the day.