We left Donegal this morning with fond memories. It is a nice town with some very nice people and we were well looked after. After breakfast we spent a few minutes re-orgainising our wallets as we had now left the pounds of Northern Ireland behind and would be back to using the Euros of the Republic. However we should have conserved our efforts, as we spent most of the day back in Northern Ireland.
BELLEEK : County Fermanagh : Northern Ireland : Population 836
Whilst most of the town lies in County Fermanagh, some of the town crosses over into County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland. Most famous for its china that comes out of Belleek Pottery, the oldest pottery in Ireland
Our first destination for the day was the Belleek factory, mainly to look at their pottery. Inside the shop we stood aside and watch whilst tour buses of old biddies jostled their way between bargain bins dragging their husbands behind them. One old dear who was a bit of a character asked me where we thought she could find something for 1.99. This was while we were standing beside an atrocity with the going price of 6,500. We saw her later where she informed us that she had managed to escape with 18.50 and her hubby didn’t look too pleased about that. However there were some beautiful pieces there, and we didn’t manage to escape as lightly as that particular elderly friend.
BOA ISLAND : County Fermanagh : Northern Ireland
8kms long the A47 goes through the length of the island.
Our next stop had a completely different theme. We headed to Boa Island, an Island connected at both ends by the road passing through. We were there for a particular purpose, we were looking for a graveyard. It took some finding, however we weren’t disappointed. It contains the ‘Janus Stone’, an ancient pagan stone carved with two bodies back to back. Nearby is the smaller carved stone known as the ‘Lusty Man’ , not for the reasons that you may think, but because it was brought here from the nearby Lusty More Island. Both stones are over 2000 years old. This little graveyard is situated in the middle of a farm, next to the cow yards, and despite our difficulty in finding it we obviously weren’t the first here, the Americans had left their trademark piles of coins behind.
ENNISKILLEN : County Fermanagh : Northern Island : Population 13,500
MARBLE ARCH CAVES : County Fermanagh : Northern Island
Depth - 94 metres : Length - 11.5 km : Discovered - 1895 : Notable Feature - Giant’s Hall – a large chamber 60 m long, 15m high, 30m high.
We had a quick lunch in Enniskillen, before heading on to the Marble Arch Caves. Evidently this area is riddled with caves, however the largest of them are the Marble Arch Caves, and they are open to the public. After a short walk, we were led down into the caves, herded onto a couple of flat bottom boats and ferried to the starting point on the subterranean stream. From here it was walking all the way, at about 65 metres below the surface. The caves themselves were pretty cool, wandering and weaving, with some very cool rock forms and shapes. There were some Calcite formations, but not as impressive as what we have seen elsewhere. We finished climbing the 150 steps or so back to the surface. These caves are only accessible during the summer months as during the winter the caverns and tunnels fill up to the ceiling with water.
SLIGO : County Sligo : Republic of Ireland : Population 19,400
The population triples each day as residents from the region converge on it for work and shopping. It was in County Sligo that W.B.Yeats was mostly inspired.
Our destination today was Sligo. Our first impression of the place was pretty dire. Our hostel for the night seemed to be in the middle of a disused industrial area. We thought that it could only get better from here. We walked into town to have a look around and found that although the vast majority of the centre was comprised of Bars and Nightclubs, there didn’t seem to be anyone around. The busiest place in town tonight was Tesco. We joined the queue at Tesco, bought ourselves some provisions for a self-catered dinner and headed back home.
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