AUTUMN ALMANAC DONEGAL IN THE FALL
Welcome back- Day 2 and we’re exploring the backroads of Ballintra- enjoying the carpet of leaves, mosses, chestnuts and odd-looking fungi which now covers the forest floor and the random windy little roads we love. Take 5 minutes to enjoy this with us, you can almost here the scrunch underfoot!
Day 3 Today, our Autumn stroll took us just a few miles from Bundoran, to Wardtown Castle, the ruin of an eighteenth century residence built by the Folliott family, who were among the first families to come to the area after the Plantation of Ulster. This is still a very striking and evocative building, with its impressive symmetry, and very own ravens nesting in the roof. It is also, according the folklore, the home of the ‘Cailín Bán’ (Colleen Bawn), who fell in love with Willie Reilly, a tale that became immortalized in Irish literature, music and the movies.Our thanks to the folks who gave their kind permission for us to have a wander around the castle grounds and adjacent farm land; the building is a stunning historical backdrop to the beautiful farmland and coastline.
Day 4 We are up close and personal today, my friends, – our walk took us between the shoreline and nearby lake close to Bundoran, Donegal, on a beautiful sunny October first. It seems that no-one has told the butterflies and bees that it’s mid-Autumn, the snails are patrolling the sand dunes in phenomenal numbers, and you have to admire the enterprising little green caterpillar who hitched a ride on John’s boot, curled up and settled in for the journey! Enjoy!
Day 5
Hello and happy Friday everyone! This evening, our rambles took us down to the coast, at the estuary where the River Erne flows into the Atlantic Ocean. We are on the north side of the estuary, with the town of Ballyshannon to our left, along the river, and Sliabh Liag, and then Canada to our right! You can see the Dartry Mountains of counties Leitrim and Sligo in the distance- the distinctive shape of Ben Wisken and Ben Bulben – and we have lots of interesting cloud shapes, with sunlight flirting here and there behind them. Enjoy!
Day 6 Today, join me in for a beautiful autumnal walk along the Lowerymore River, near Barnesmore, County Donegal. I have quite a few gates in this collection, they remind me of Patrick Kavanagh’s rural Ulster poems, he very often uses old rusty farm gates as metaphors to what he calls ‘no earthly estate’ – the spiritual and healing part of natural beauty. On days like today, it is impossible to feel anything but joyful and happy on this warm, sunny fall day. I hope you can hop over some of these gates with me, and share the joy. Enjoy the weekend!
Day 7 We don’t often plan our daily rambles, as it’s wonderful to make random discoveries that we can share with you here. Our original intention in visiting the Brownhall Demense was to check out the ancestral home of the Hamilton Family, and see if we could find someone to chat to us about its remarkable history. Instead, we discovered the Brownhall Caves, an astonishing network of crazy cavities with an underground river cutting through the limestone. Unfortunately (or fortunately), we can’t show you the bats and spiders living in there, but you can see the beautiful and weird calcium deposits, and the river running underneath. We subsequently found out that the name of the large cave is ‘The Piper’s Hole’, and naturally, there is folklore to explain this- the story goes that a piper, who was entertaining at the big house, had too much wine, and fell into the cave. He was never found, but people say that you can still hear his ghost playing in the caves on a moonlit night. We’ll check it out at Halloween 
enjoy!
Day 8 Hello folks. Today, we are in Mountcharles, a small town just north of Donegal Town, and overlooking Donegal Bay. We’re talking a walk along the shore road, up to the pier. Mountcharles was originally called ‘Tamhnach an tSalainn’, or ‘the green fields of salt’. Salt was extracted from the flood plains here to preserve locally caught herring. The pier was built during the Great Famine, to provide work and encourage fishing.
The townlands were appropriated by the Cunningham family during the Plantation of Ulster. It’s not clear whether it was Charles Cunningham who renamed the town after himself, or whether it was named to honour King Charles II, but one of the family’s better known descendants is Lord Henry Mountcharles, currently living in Slane Castle, and the host of many great rock concerts at that venue over the last twenty years.
As you’ll see from the photos, there was about four types of weather going on at the same time. Looking inland, it was blue sky and fluffy cloud, looking out to sea you could see the approaching rain clouds, and a storm a-coming. Close to the pier, as the sign suggests, we found a lovely little cabin selling tea! Perfect!
Enjoy.
Day 10 There is nothing quite like happening upon an old road in Donegal, under dappled spots of sunlight breaking through overgrown hedgerows and trees, and following its green center line to see where it leads you. County Donegal has one of the largest local road networks in Ireland – many of them are barely suitable for one vehicle, let along two, but that’s the fun of it all! No traffic on any of these today, except ourselves. Enjoy!
Day 11 It might appear that we had a lazy day today, as our photos come from just outside our office, but this very amusing wander around our own garden was prompted by an apple, whacking me on the head as it got ripped from its bearing by a magpie. I had no Newtonian inspiration, other than to photograph the garden in Autumn, and for the sake of nostalgia for you guys and gals, throw in some pics of the Wishing Chair and the hot tub , the bar, sadly with its doors closed, and finally, the sun setting on the town, taken from the balcony. We’ll venture out a bit further tomorrow! Enjoy.
Day 11 Almost every townland in Donegal has its own ‘Big House’ – the homes of the wealthy landlords who were given large estates by the English crown during the plantations. The descendants of these wealthy families who were introduced to Ireland in the 17th Century very often consolidated their lands and their status by building large homes and gardens, and many remain; some have been renovated, some have been repurposed, and some lie in disrepair, with their own derelict beauty. The gardens, in particular, with their high walls, and frequently, inbuilt heating systems, are a reminder of the privilege and wealth of some, while outside those walls, especially in the middle of the 19th Century, was abysmal poverty and starvation. Some landlords, however, did attempt to alleviate the hardship of their tenants, and went bankrupt in the process.
Just north of Donegal Town is the Hall Demense, a large estate once belonging to the Cunninghams. We went looking for the Big House, and found instead, their agent’s home, which has been painstakingly revamped into the beautiful Salthill Gardens, which are open to the public from May through September. Although we arrived during their closed season, the lovely owner/gardener Elizabeth generously allowed us in for a ramble, and then directed us to the Cunningham Big House for an over-the-wall peek. Outhouses, stables, servant entrances and workers’ cottages, and the big house itself remind us of the ‘upstairs-downstairs’ nature of these estates, our cultural history is very visible in these landscapes. So enjoy a stroll around the nineteenth century, and the reminders of lives gone by.
Day 12
We took a walk this afternoon close to the border between the counties of Donegal and Fermanagh – which is also the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland. It’s beautiful and still very green, although the Autumn colours are beginning to encroach. The skies are very interesting- a combination of sunbursts and heavy grey swollen clouds, throwing all kinds of light and shade on the landscape. I hope you enjoy a ramble with us this lovely Friday evening, and we shall see where the weekend takes us, and report back faithfully here. Enjoy.
Day 13 Today’s walk was along- yes, you guessed it, more country roads in South Donegal – and I thought I’d introduce you to the neigh-bours… (sorry) – in Spring and Summer, the lambs tend to dominate our attention, but this time of year, we say hello to the donkeys, the cows and the sheep-survivors who made it through the season.
Donegal has a strong traditional link with donkeys. From the start of the nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth century, donkeys played a key role in rural lives, in particular, they transported baskets of cut turf (peat) from the bogs to the homestead. The arrival of motorized machinery meant that donkeys become less important as working animals, but still, some parts of rural Ireland remained affected by poverty, and until relatively recently, depended on donkeys for some of the traditional tasks that needed doing on the small farm.
We will also mention the great work done by the Donegal Donkey Sanctuary – this summer, organizer Sarah Curran raised over 70K to protect abandoned donkeys. While we take their presence in the fields for granted, Sarah and her team make sure there is somewhere for neglected, underfed or abandoned creatures, and for that we are so grateful, they are beautiful creatures and very much a part of Donegal scenery.
Day 14 Hey everyone, I hope you had a happy Sunday. We spent it doing one of our favourite things- exploring old church ruins, made all the nicer by lovely sunny weather.
So come back in the past with me, to 1610.
One Sir William Stewart was granted 1,000 acres of land in Donegal confiscated from the O’Donnells after the Nine Years War. Stewart was a buddy of the new King James I of England, (James VI of Scotland), and so was rewarded for his support with the gift of land in Ulster. By 1620, he had this Church at Tullyaughnish completed, and it continued in use until 1826. It’s a very pretty ruin, covered in Ivy, and with a magnificent holly bush at the north end. It has a beautiful window, above which is a decorated 12th century stone taken from the Romanesque Church of St Columba on Aughnish Island.
There are also some very old tombstones here- I love the originality of the carvings, so you’ve got them in the mix today too.
Enjoy!
Day 15 Welcome, another gorgeous October day, and the hedgerows are bursting with colour- a lot of blackberries, prickly rose berries, rambling roses, new yellow holly, more blackberries, californian poppies, fuschia (lots of the purple stuff, but I love the white variety) herb robert and lots of colourful knotty briars. One for the flowery people – Enjoy!
Day 16 Hello everyone, come with me today for a ramble around the beautiful, and historic town of Ramelton, Donegal. The town is built on the river Leannan, which flows into Lough Swilly, and it was a place of strategic importance for the defense of Ulster, which means the O’Donnells were there in the old days, and promptly displaced in the early 17th Century by the newcomers from England and Scotland. The aforementioned William Stewart was given land here, and by 1622 there were 57 families of Scottish descent living in the town. Because of the excellent access given by the port, the town became a thriving center of business in the 19th century, with a busy linen industry, a corn mill, a salmon fishery and a brewery. It was an important center of Ulster-Scots culture, and in turn, had quite an influence on American Society – it was the birthplace of Francis Makamie, who is considered to be the founder of Presbyterianism in the USA, and it was also the home of the parents of James Buchanan, who went on to become President of the USA- albeit, probably one of the worst! But Ramelton has had many more successful residents, and they are honored in this lovely town with a series of monuments. It’s lovely to see the pride in which the Rameltonites hold their town history. I met a chap on my wander, who insisted in showing me the memorial to one Dave Gallaher, who became captain of the original All Blacks, and he also interested me very much in the story of Catherine Black, who became private nurse to George V.
There is a beautiful Mall in front of the river, showing off the Georgian architecture. But the autumn foliage was stealing all of the thunder along the river- I was heartbroken that Covid had closed the fantastic Bridge Bar, I had many’s the good night there in the past – but the outdoors was worth the visit.
If you’re wondering what ‘Football Special’ is, it is a non-alcoholic beverage that every Donegal person recognizes, and the formula is even more secret than Coca-Cola. One of those things you’ll have to try when you get here. Enjoy the stroll!
