If this is Tuesday we must be on the road

Apologies for the mixed fonts in the last post. I have no idea how that happened. It all looked the same when I was typing.

Today we left about an hour later than planned. Our host, Maire, dropped in to say hello. What a lovely generous woman with offers of future hospitality in Galway and Dingle! She is a real chatterbox, but it was worth our while to talk with her.

Originally from the Dingle, her first language was Irish. In fact, she used to teach Irish. I'm not sure what she does now other than manage two adjacent apartments as Airbnb accommodations.

We finally "set sail" about 10 and pointed the car north. Braden managed the GPS settings which brought us to Donegal. Although we passed a sign for Donegal Castle we decided to carry on and find some lunch around 1:30 in the town of Donegal. We ended up at the Olde Castle Bar and restaurant.

They served disgusting coffee, but the food was good. What a bustling place. It must be very old. The rooms lead from one to the other and it has all sorts of interesting architectural features. There was even a wee thatched roof in a corner right beside our table.

Once finished we stepped outside and found ourselves at Donegal Castle. There was a tour group lined up so we followed them through the door that said "Closed on Tuesday and Wednesday". We wondered had we lost part of our week. However, we paid the entry fee and enjoyed the tour very much. The castle was built in the 14th century, if memory serves, was turned over to an English family, after being stolen from the O'Connells who had built it, in 1611. They added a manor house on one side. It fell into ruin after the late 1700s. Restoration in the 1990s has made it an interesting place to visit. The repairs used the original manner of building.

From there we headed to Portstewart - where we are now. We adjusted the route from our original plan and in retaliation, our GPS took us on a merry detour on every possible small road that cut maybe 100 yards off the route on the highway. The scenery was spectacular even on a cloudy day, but since it had stopped raining around noon we still enjoyed some wonderful views. I'm not sure what altitude we reached but my ears popped.

For the last stretch, our faithful navigational device allowed us to resume use of the main road. It was smooth sailing right to the door of the wonderful home we are occupying. We each have our own room and share a nice bathroom with a large walk-in shower. The kitchen is great - so well supplied with every little thing you could need. Our hosts provided homemade cookies, chips and a bottle of wine. I can assure you that we are not letting that hospitality go to waste.

Once again Olivia made our supper after a short trip to the Supervalu. The supply of desserts and all sorts of sweets is delighting Olivia. The Irish all over the country do like their sweets. There is even REAL coffee here so we needn't settle for instant at breakfast tomorrow.

With the forecast promising sun, we plan an early departure for the Dark Hedges, followed by a few other Game of Thrones destinations. It doesn't look like we'll see the sun again before Sunday but you just never know. The weather changes here faster than you can change your mind. We seem to get dry sunny days when we want them the most so we're not complaining.

Today's pictures from Donegal Castle have not yet uploaded so I'm afraid there are no illustrations at the moment. Just wait until tomorrow which could be a bonus picture day!