| This update is mainly about the trip to Donegal with the Queen's University Mountaineering Club. | |
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We
left on Friday night in Minibuses, eventually arriving at the Hostel in
Glencolumkille (the village is shown in the first photo)
just in time to make it to the pub before closing. We ended up back in
the common room at the hostel singing songs, telling stories (for those
of us less gifted in terms of voice), and had a really good craic. We were
up reasonably early the next day to head off either walking or climbing.
The walk was along the cliffs of Slieve League (photo
two is a view towards Sligo from the car park, and three
is a view of the cliffs from the park). We had a nice start to the day,
sunshine and clear skies, although it clouded over later in the day.
It is a beautiful spot, and I was clicking away constantly with the camera, the scenery seemed completely different each time the light changed. It was an excellent day for meeting more of the people on the trip - Spanish, American, Portuguese, French, and even some Irish. The walk itself was not too strenuous, and we were back at the hostel in reasonable time (having picked up a bunch of hitchhikers on the way). After dinner it was down to Roharties again, a live singer this time, who was excellent, and then back to the hostel for another round of songs and stories (Maui and the great Fish went down well). |
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The
next morning I was up rather earlier than most people (owing to not having
imbibed as freely), and so was Dermott (a lad from Sligo I'd met the day
before, and who had been sick, and consequently not drinking at all). The
two of us went for a walk around the village, and visited some of the celtic
stones.
Columkille was a Catholic Missionary who introduced Christianity to the area. The stones, which were pre-Christian in origin later had "Christian" motifs added as part of his gradual introduction of Christian ideas. These motifs are visible in both these photos. |
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By the time we returned to the hostel, the rest of the crowd was alive and reading to head off for another walk or climb. We walked around Mallin More this time - approaching Slieve League from the other end. Some lovely beaches, lots of peat bog, and an exhilarating run down Mallin Beg. |
