Ireland north west coast Donegal tour 3/3

 

 

Driving on to find a place top stay, pass by Ballyness bay, another golden sand bay with a spectacular shoreline.

Stay the night  nearby at Port Nablagh pier, where there is a fishing spot off the rocky shore.

The day started a bit gloomy and drizzly, decided to go to Ards forest park to walk on trails in the forest that lead to sand dunes and beaches.

 

The stretch of tall grass reminded me of yesteryear, when ancient creatures may come out and  show their faces. What we see are flocks of starlings whirling around in the sky, and fantastic pristine sandy coves.

 

 

 

Nearby is Doe castle, built around 500 AD and have had many renovation, extension and changes of hands, the main point is, it is still standing, in a strategic location, with a great view. 

The sun comes out on our way to Tra beach view point. Gorgeous golden sandy beaches, very long, wide and tranquil.

 

 

The furthest place we managed to reach is Fanard Point light house, by then the sky is bright blue, clouds dense white and the sea deep blue with a sharp horizon. The view is mesmerisingly charming.

Near by is the Pollet giant arch walk, can’t resist it on such nice weather, turns out to be the best walk in this trip. Long path down to the sea, with rounded pebbles beach, unique rock formations, and indeed the giant arch. The nearby rock on a flat platform is equally impressive.

 

 

On the way back, stop on this little lake with fine evening view. 

Donegal coast is unbelievably beautiful, well, on sunny day, and without many people around, it is the best kept secret!

Ireland north west coast Donegal county tour 2/3

 

 

Hunting for a secluded location for the night brought us to Cruit island, joined by a short bridge to mainland.

Yet another fine semicircular bay, the coast is covered by gigantic boulders with lots of fissures, very pleasant to wander around.

Ireland is very lucky to have so many fine beaches, being on the cool side, they are not ruined by tourism. On top, there is never any rubbish on the beach, nor any washed up wastes.

At the small pier off Cruit island, saw a fisherman in a small boat. Always good to have a chat and see if he has some seafood to offer. 

 

It was our luck that he had lobster pots in the bay, offered us 3 pieces for 10 euro. Irish fishermen are so nice, they only ask for the same wholesale price that they get from buyers, not the retail price we pay in the market.

 

 

 

Nearby at the pier saw a large courtyard with piles of seaweed, wander in to have a look and end up chatting to the very friendly manager. It is a company that extracts the juice from seaweed to use as fertilizer. He offered a quick tour of the operation, first is to rinse salt off seaweed, remove all shells, chop very fine then centrifuge the juice, finish. They sell all over the world for commercial use, like club lawns.

 

 

It is a windy and rainy day, typically Irish weather, and we keep to our journey to Dunlewy, to walk the Poisoned Glen trail.

One of those giant glacial valley, beautiful U shape curves, and totally wild. The ground is boggy and raining nonstop, which are not the problem, we are equipped with wet weather gear, the misty atmosphere is enchanting.

 

 

 

Carry on to Glenveagh National Park, walked up a short steep hill to the view point for the lake and valley, again a misty view of the valley.

 

Walked around the walled garden of the castle. A vibrant burst of colours, very well done by two full time gardeners.

Ireland north west coast Donegal tour 1/3

It was good 5 hour drives to reach Donegal town in the most nothern county. The coast, in sunny moments, looks charming.

 

 

 

First stop is Slieve League, sheer cliff straight down to sea, the highest in Europe, and 3 times the height of famous cliff of Mohar. Easy walk up to view point, and indeed steep, but not as eye catching as Cliff of Mohar.

 

 

 

The perfect horse shoe shaped sandy beach at Malin Beg below the low cliff is breathlessly beautiful. There is a long flight of steps to go down, but what interest me more is the green field of the cliff top and the view along the coast. 

 

So instead of walking down to the beach, we stayed up and walk along sheep fields to the very far end of the field, for the rewarding view of massive dark rocks in bright blue sea.

 

 

The drive inland over Glengesh Pass to Adara and to Portnoo beach reminded me of the spectacular open vista in Iceland. Huge U shape glacial valley, peat blog land as far as your eyes could see, not a tree, not a house in sight. The openness is rare and is an enjoyable panorama.

When I visited the west coast of Ireland last year, I was already very impressed with the immense beaches there, without much human activities and constructions. Arriving and walking on Portnoo beach, I am speechless, an endless stretch of fine golden sand beach, the beauty is hard to describe. I just keep walking and taking shots, return when tired, not even touched half the length. 

 

Only on driving to the next destination, I got a distance view of the bay from some height, and realize it is an Z shaped sandy beach, no wonder I felt like water on 3 sides.

 

150 Garlic harvest

With the past few weeks of sunny and rainy weather, I know that garlic will be well fattened up and will be ready to harvest earlier than last year, which was 6 July. 

Indeed when I test pull one out, the bulb is big, two weeks earlier. With the soil loose from the rain, it is very easy to pull out the 5 rows of 5 different varieties of garlic planted, around 30 bulbs each.

All 5 varieties grew well, zero lost, most are big bulbs, a great harvest.

Now they are dried in the barn, in a few weeks time, will start turning them into black garlic, honey fermented garlic and low temperature cooked garlic, easy to keep, to snack and to use.

Baked bacon and egg

Most of the time cooked on the frying pan, actually easy to make and the texture of egg much more tender with baked.
In a stainless steel ramekin, grease with oil, line with streaky bacon (this one is Naked Bacon, without nitrate), crack an egg in the middle. Bake at 200˚C until egg just set, around 8 minutes.

Cherry tomatoes

It has been exceptionally warm since end May, unusual for Ireland, plants grow very fast in the extra sunshine.
Just started to harvest cherry tomatoes, a month ahead of last year, okra, melon and cucumber all started to flower, what a year.