Donegal, Ireland

[Penta]

Since the Iran pictures went down so well, I thought I might post a few from our last few days in Donegal. It's not a part of Ireland I've been to before, and it is gorgeous, in a rather less exotic way than Iran.

Cruit Island (pronounced Critch) has glorious empty beaches and pristine sea:



Arranmore Island in the distance.


Owey Island in the distance. This is now uninhabited, but there's a boat taxi which takes people over whenever the weather's good enough, mainly the people who used to live there and still keep up a few of the houses you can see.

[Penta]

A different and harder type of stone within the granite:



A modern cairn with pinks sheltering behind it:



An old granite fence post:



On the tops of the hills, they made their walls with holes in them, so they're less likely to get blown over. You can see it doesn't work for ever:



Here's a surviving bit of a very old one:

[Penta]

Old turf cutting on Cruit:



In the floating bog on the mainland. Traditional turf cutting by hand, where the top layer is placed in last year's cut, to help it recover more quickly:



Modern machine cut turf, spread for its first or second dry:



A heap of "sausage turf" which is the cheapest and most damaging extraction process:



A small lake up on the bog:

[Penta]

What will be my painter sister's studio:



Her future chicken house with the repaired duck house in the background:



That's it.

[Jäeger]

I'm remided of what Billy Conn said when he visited Ireland, it was along the lines of "I'm glad my parents didn't miss the boat". If rocks were currency, it looks like Donegal would be an economic powerhouse :)

Nice pictures penta, thanks for posting them.

[Penta]

I thought you'd like the walls.

Here's a new bit on top of the bedrock I took specially for you:


Yours are a bit tidier, but I expect it'll do its job.

[Jäeger]

I assume that's a newer house, but do some of the older structures use a traditional stucco or a modern type?

[Penta]

Most of the old houses are very small: single-storey, with 2 or 3 rooms. Occasionally with a second storey, meaning they have 4, or rarely 6, rooms. They're stone, eventually plastered, and were originally thatched. As were the tiny barns next to most of them (like my sister's studio to be). A lot of new building (still, despite the housing/construction collapse in Ireland). Concrete block construction, plastic windows, occasionally with a bit of a second storey, just like the rather unattractive example above.

[nowonmai]

Shitting razor blades as we speak. Where next, holiday snaps from the Lubyanka?

[Penta]

Shitting razor blades as we speak.

Good. Mission Accomplished.

[svizzerams]

Thanks for posting your Irish fotos Penta. The open wall concept was interesting and would discourage me from wanting to ever live there - not keen on windy locales. Beautiful country. I enjoy seeing all your travel pics.