Day 8 - Ireland - Londonderry

August 5, 2014

Today the Townsends took us around. All five of us climbed in their little hatchback and they were our local tour guides. It was awesome! They know so  much about the area and what to see and how to get there and small, little side things that we would never know about. And I didn’t have to drive! That was a bit of a relief for me especially since we were driving around in the city.

We stopped at a Mass Rock on the way to Londonderry/Derry. These are fairly common all over island. During the 1600s, practicing Catholicism was punished by death but the people still wanted to practice their religion so they would meet in secret in the woods so throughout Ireland there are these Mass Rocks where they would take the sacrament. It felt almost like a cathedral with the way the trees towered above  in almost a dome above the rock.

In Derry we walked across the Peace Bridge to the Tower Museum. We spent an solid 2 hours learning about the history of Ireland. Then we met up with the Townsends again and walked the wall around Derry. From the wall we could get a good view of the city surroundings and the different neighborhoods like the Fountain (which is strongly Protestant and Unionist), and Free Derry (which is strongly Catholic and Nationalist).  All along the wall walk they have different performers dressed in period clothing telling part of the history of Derry. We also saw bagpipers and a group of girls performing Scottish dancing.  Before heading back to the car we stopped in the Guildhall. The woodworking and stained glass were amazing. We drove past the “People’s Gallery” and saw the famous murals on the wall on our drive out.

Our next stop was Grainan Alleigh, an ancient round citadel or fort that dates back to the time of the birth of Christ. It’s up on the highest hill in the area and has commanding views of all of the surrounding area (including Lough Foyle and Lough Swilly). Jason and I sat on some rocks and ate our sandwiches in the cool breeze and took in more of the views.

Net we went to a farmer’s field where he had built his own fort and castle and all sorts of things out of dry-stacked fieldstones as a hobby gone mad. It started POURING down rain while we were out in the field and we all got pretty soaking wet walking through the wheat fields and muddy roads out to his castle but it was fun! Thankfully I had my new raincoat and my umbrella so actually I stayed pretty dry. Mom was pretty miserable and cold for the next few hours until we got home.

We stopped in Raphoe to see some castle ruins and then walked up through a forest tunnel to an ancient Beltany Stone Circle in another farmers field, complete with sheep (and sheep poop). We ended the day at Phillip’s pipe band practice. While everyone else waited in the car, I stood at the edge of the road, tucked under the ivy-covered trees, clutching my umbrella in the pouring rain and occasional thunder with the WiFi hotspot in my pocket and talked to my family on Face Time. It was SOOOO good to talk to them! Kira told me about EFY and how her and Marquelle performed “Little Green Valley” in front of 850 people at the EFY talent show. I am so amazed by her! And I talked to Jeff for almost an hour about everything going on here and there. I love being here but I am still counting down the days until I see them again!