Second day and still no rain! Nothing short of a miracle in Ireland, particularly the northwest of Ireland! We pulled out of Donegal Town around 9:30am - a very subdued Donegal: they had lost the football championship the day before, despite being the odds-on favorite. We headed north toward Letterkenny and over to Glenveagh National Park.
This is Lough Veagh, located in a beautiful remote valley. In 1857, John George Adair created his estate on its banks. In the process, he evicted some 244 tenants in the cold April of 1861. Charming fellow. The estate passed through 2 more owners before Henry McIlhenny of Philadelphia (yay!) bought it. About 40 years later, he sold the lands to the Irish state, and in 1981 he presented the castle and gardens to the Irish nation. What a guy!
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| Lucy perches on a wall in front of Glenveagh Castle |
The castle gardens are stunning and include a mixed flower garden, kitchen garden, rose garden, and Victorian Pleasure Garden (and likely a few others we missed). This dicey looking character hangs out in the Victorian Pleasure Garden. I refer, of course, to the character on the left.
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