Wanderung 34

Republic of Ireland: Derry

Northern Ireland: Londonderry

The Information Center in Cavan had loaded us up with information about the area when we asked about B&Bs there, and one brochure that intrigued us showed 3 loop drives in the area. We thought about doing the loop out to the West, but it was too long, about 120 km, to accomplish in a morning, which is all the time we had available before we would have to drive North to Derry to stay overnight. But that long loop to the West (blue loop), and another 90 kilometer one out to the East of Cavan (green loop) certainly looked like nice driving tours to do in the future.

The loop right around the immediate Cavan area (red loop), in contrast, was only about 60 km, which we thought we could do in a few hours. So after a breakfast of toast, cereal and milk, plus yogurt and fruit salad for me and a banana for Monika, we packed up, left the keys and the cash payment in a drawer for John, and set off for the day.

Even with detailed directions and a GPS, we still managed to get turned around occasionally, but Monika navigated us back through Cavan and a bit South to Saint Fethlmidh's Cathedral. Curiously, that cathedral is located rather far outside the town and all together in the middle of nowhere. We had hoped to go inside, of course, but the church was an Anglican cathedral and was locked up tighter than a drum.

That raises a question. Over 90% of the Roman Catholic Churches we visit are open to the public even when they are not being used for services and no official people are present. In contrast, over 90% of the Protestant churches we have visited are locked up to prevent people from entering unless a worship service is going on. Now why is that? Does anyone know what nuance of doctrine or biblical interpretation makes Roman Catholics keep their churches open despite the obvious risks of theft or vandalism? Does anyone know the reason that Protestant churches are kept locked and unavailable for prayer or meditation in the off-hours? Please let me know what causes this curious difference.

Anyway, the church was imposing from the outside, so we had to be satisfied with taking pictures of the exterior before continuing on our way. Our next stop was a Killykeen Forest Park, a large park in the lake just to the west of the cathedral. We wound our way into the interior of the large park and found a large, but virtually deserted, parking lot at the end. A sign at the end of the parking lot promised toilets somewhere down the path, so we followed the path past a cluster of kiosks that were shuttered and on down to the bathrooms, which were just above a small bridge that connects two of the headlands projecting out into the lake.

Crossing the bridge, we finally found a good map of the park plus a depiction of the trails available for hiking (or mountain biking) in the park. We decided on a 4-kilometer path around the peninsula where our car was parked, as we thought we would get nice views of the lake that way.

The bicycle part of the trail was a packed gravel access road that was easy walking but not terribly scenic. The pedestrian-only part of the path, however, followed right along the lake shoreline and gave us some very nice views out over the lake. The footing was quite treacherous in that section because we slipped not only the mud but also on the moss on the tree roots, which was unexpected. Still the walk was a lot of fun and a nice change from all the driving and city walking we had been doing in Ireland. But you should definitely walk it on a non-rainy day because that part of the path would really get muddy and slippery in the rain!

Once we looped back to the car, we climbed in and drove on to our next scenic spot, an old Abbey with a round, defensive tower right next to it. When I say old, I mean really old because the Abbey dates from the 500s, which would have been shortly after the fall of the Roman Empire!

Obviously the Abbey building has been reconstructed over the years, but that defensive tower with the really thick stone walls, looks like it has stood intact since it was built. I was happy to see that some official Irish agency had workers out there both reinforcing and preserving the remains of the most recent Abbey building, as well as cleaning and restoring the graves in the old cemetery right next to the church.

We returned back down the access road, which was so narrow that when I met a truck, he had to back up to a wide spot in the road so that we could get by each other. The access road was also so deteriorated and poorly maintained that grass was growing in the center in one section of it, and the pavement for the whole thing was cracked and uneven, more like an old driveway than a road. I hope that the Powers That Be will also see fit to replace that road if they expect folks to visit the preserved Abbey ruins and the old cemetery, which are quite interesting, historically.

Our final stop was the town of Belturbet, where we hoped to find an old railroad station. But there were absolutely no signs to it, so we missed the turnoff and ended up on the River Erne, which runs through Belturbet. The river is partly a canal with locks at that point, I think, and we stopped at a nice park on the river made from the grounds of an old fort housing a Calvary battalion back in the days of the British occupation of Ireland. A groundskeeper there gave me directions to return to the main church in the middle of the town and then go downhill.

Following his directions and asking a school crossing guard along the way, we finally found the old train station but it was a bit of a disappointment. Apparently it had recently been a Tourist Information Center as those signs were still on the door, but it was locked up tight and there was no sign of anybody around. Monika and I took pictures as best we could and climbed back into the car.

We wanted to have lunch in Belturbet, but the town cafes and bakery had gone out of business, and neither of the bars that were still open had any menu posted outside. So we gave up on lunch in town and drove out to the main highway where we found a "Black and White" Cafe at a truck stop combined with a gas station. Monika had the roast beef daily special and I had the pasta carbonara, and both were quite good.

Thus refreshed, we worked our way northwards to Derry all through the afternoon, and finally found our B&B after having to cross not only the river but also the central business section of Derry, which is a medium-sized city. Very weary from the incessant demands of that driving, I rested a bit before we drove over to a nearby Centra store to get sandwiches, pop, and potato chips for our evening snack.

I do not, by the way, recommend driving clear across Ireland the way we did on this part of the trip. There are so many old or interesting places to see in Ireland that it is simply a shame to go rushing past them the way we did on these heavy-driving days. If you take a driving tour of Ireland, try to make short hops and spend enough time in each place (say 2-4 nights) so that you have time to thoroughly explore that area, talk to the folks, and absorb the local history, culture, architecture, and atmosphere. Taking short hops also would minimize the toll that the stressful driving takes on the driver during a long day.