Locked Doors, Waze and Connecticut: Adventures in County Donegal
It is early Wednesday morning and I am sitting in my sister and brother-in-law’s family house on the West Coast of Ireland, drinking coffee and listening to bucolic Irish music...and I’m getting a bit antsy. I admit that I am forever struggling with my “relaxation-challenged” personality while on vacation, but as much as I love it here, I struggle here the most.
First, there is no gym. I don’t mean in the house, I mean anywhere. I am used to that 5 AM alarm going off, so that I can head to the Y and get a good work out before leaving for work. But other than a small grocery store, a butcher shop, an Internet cafe (I wasn’t even aware that these places still existed) and of course, a Catholic Church, there’s not much going on in this little hamlet. I am very fond of “a good stretch of the legs,” (Quoting Maureen O’Hara from “The Quiet Man”) and I would be perfectly happy to go for an early morning walk, but as many times as I have been here, I can never seem to figure out how to independently open the complex, barrier-like egress that my sister calls her front door. It’s old, and it’s creaky and has a lot of locks—-and thus, I must remain content with the coffee, the music and the antsiness.
It is later in the day, and we have just returned from our excursion all around County Donegal. I wanted to spend the day in Derry, the second largest city in Northern Ireland, and just about 90 minutes from the house. Between my sister and her friend, that was a non-starter and my idea was immediately voted down. With the calamity of Brexit just a few weeks away and apparently “The Troubles” getting stirred up again;(or so they say) the decision was made to stay on this side of the border. I’ll just have to experience this city vicariously by watching the “Derry Girls” on Netflix.
It was quite an adventure.
After opening the front door, we headed to the local Irish version of Lowe’s, where my sister needed a few things for the house. While my sister personally knows the owners, it also appeared that she knew every single employee—by name. After initial pleasantries, one of the employees asked if we were staying for a while and my sister immediately replied that we were just visiting for the week. He looked at the two of us, with our winter coats zipped-up as high as possible and said, “Oh sure, your here for the weather.” Apparently, other people spend their Spring Breaks in warmer climates.
Our traveling plan was to head north and go to a place called “The Poisoned Glen”. While we had no idea what was supposed to be poisonous about this glen, the view was described as beautiful and we thought it would be worth the trip. We had no idea how long it would take us, as Google Maps, Waze and the guide at the local information desk gave three very different times to our destination. I was
particularly troubled when Waze and Google Maps had the Glen located in two very different parts
of the county! But we came up with a plan, decided to go the old-fashioned way and use a MAP, got
in the car, (After I again, had to walk around the car because I was getting in on the wrong side), put my Sea Bands on, and were on our way.
I will begin by saying that this place looked a whole lot closer on the map. I don’t care what Waze or the lovely gentleman in the Information Center said— they were all wrong!! We drove and drove (I use the royal “we” because I just sat on the wrong side of the front seat while my poor sister drove a stick-shift on the opposite side of the road!), through one winding road after another, driving through smaller and smaller towns (ironically, they all seemed to have Chinese restaurants), slowly, slowly
towards our destination. It was so far, that we decided we’d stop along the way at some other sites, which included the Glenveigh Castle located in the middle of a national park. Fortunately, for us, there were lots of signs for the Castle, Sadly, we were not so lucky finding the other potential sites.
After seeing a sign for a woolen mill, my sister thought it would be great to break up the ride and go
there to buy Irish place mats. We only saw a sign for the place, so I put in “woolen mill” into Waze. It wanted to send us to somewhere in Connecticut, 2699 miles away. We went back using to the map.
By the time we got to the Poisoned Glen, the weather can only be described as monsoon-like. Walking around the church ruins was out and my sister yelled above the howling wind, “Just put down the window and take a picture!” I did what she said and after rolling down the window, taking the photo became impossible because I couldn’t see with all the rain hitting my glasses. I thought that this was ridiculous. We had travelled so far and I was getting out of the damn car to take a photo. I did and the wind was so bad I could barely stand. Needless to say, they were the worst set of photos I ever took.
We are back at the house now, out of the rain with a peat fire and a glass of wine. Tomorrow, we are going to a spa of sorts that includes a dip in a “lough.” ( lake). Fortunately, we don’t need Waze to get there.
First, there is no gym. I don’t mean in the house, I mean anywhere. I am used to that 5 AM alarm going off, so that I can head to the Y and get a good work out before leaving for work. But other than a small grocery store, a butcher shop, an Internet cafe (I wasn’t even aware that these places still existed) and of course, a Catholic Church, there’s not much going on in this little hamlet. I am very fond of “a good stretch of the legs,” (Quoting Maureen O’Hara from “The Quiet Man”) and I would be perfectly happy to go for an early morning walk, but as many times as I have been here, I can never seem to figure out how to independently open the complex, barrier-like egress that my sister calls her front door. It’s old, and it’s creaky and has a lot of locks—-and thus, I must remain content with the coffee, the music and the antsiness.
It is later in the day, and we have just returned from our excursion all around County Donegal. I wanted to spend the day in Derry, the second largest city in Northern Ireland, and just about 90 minutes from the house. Between my sister and her friend, that was a non-starter and my idea was immediately voted down. With the calamity of Brexit just a few weeks away and apparently “The Troubles” getting stirred up again;(or so they say) the decision was made to stay on this side of the border. I’ll just have to experience this city vicariously by watching the “Derry Girls” on Netflix.
It was quite an adventure.
After opening the front door, we headed to the local Irish version of Lowe’s, where my sister needed a few things for the house. While my sister personally knows the owners, it also appeared that she knew every single employee—by name. After initial pleasantries, one of the employees asked if we were staying for a while and my sister immediately replied that we were just visiting for the week. He looked at the two of us, with our winter coats zipped-up as high as possible and said, “Oh sure, your here for the weather.” Apparently, other people spend their Spring Breaks in warmer climates.
Our traveling plan was to head north and go to a place called “The Poisoned Glen”. While we had no idea what was supposed to be poisonous about this glen, the view was described as beautiful and we thought it would be worth the trip. We had no idea how long it would take us, as Google Maps, Waze and the guide at the local information desk gave three very different times to our destination. I was
particularly troubled when Waze and Google Maps had the Glen located in two very different parts
of the county! But we came up with a plan, decided to go the old-fashioned way and use a MAP, got
in the car, (After I again, had to walk around the car because I was getting in on the wrong side), put my Sea Bands on, and were on our way.
I will begin by saying that this place looked a whole lot closer on the map. I don’t care what Waze or the lovely gentleman in the Information Center said— they were all wrong!! We drove and drove (I use the royal “we” because I just sat on the wrong side of the front seat while my poor sister drove a stick-shift on the opposite side of the road!), through one winding road after another, driving through smaller and smaller towns (ironically, they all seemed to have Chinese restaurants), slowly, slowly
towards our destination. It was so far, that we decided we’d stop along the way at some other sites, which included the Glenveigh Castle located in the middle of a national park. Fortunately, for us, there were lots of signs for the Castle, Sadly, we were not so lucky finding the other potential sites.
After seeing a sign for a woolen mill, my sister thought it would be great to break up the ride and go
there to buy Irish place mats. We only saw a sign for the place, so I put in “woolen mill” into Waze. It wanted to send us to somewhere in Connecticut, 2699 miles away. We went back using to the map.
By the time we got to the Poisoned Glen, the weather can only be described as monsoon-like. Walking around the church ruins was out and my sister yelled above the howling wind, “Just put down the window and take a picture!” I did what she said and after rolling down the window, taking the photo became impossible because I couldn’t see with all the rain hitting my glasses. I thought that this was ridiculous. We had travelled so far and I was getting out of the damn car to take a photo. I did and the wind was so bad I could barely stand. Needless to say, they were the worst set of photos I ever took.
We are back at the house now, out of the rain with a peat fire and a glass of wine. Tomorrow, we are going to a spa of sorts that includes a dip in a “lough.” ( lake). Fortunately, we don’t need Waze to get there.
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