Pressure was building up at work place as I took on a new role which also means that I have moved away from my comfort zone and hence the pressure. The easter weekend was just around the corner. With a few of my colleagues we planned to head north of Ireland and make no further plan.
Booked the car and booked an accommodation in both places being ignorant to even check how far was this accommodation from the County capital. Ready with our luggage and snacks to eat on Friday morning, with prayers to good lord begun our journey. We did forget to pray to the GPS god and hence the GPS was not working, headed to the rental and got a brand new Garmin and off we went. The rental car was a Toyota Avensis. The car is fantastic; effortless drive. One can never hear the engine reving high or tyres screeching. But this was definitely not my kind of car. All the while I felt so disconnected from the road. It was like driving a virtual car, but the journey had to go on. Our First destination was Donegal and en-route we took an accidental detour which was the best accident. The road led us to mountain tops where carpets of snow enticed us to stop not once, but thrice. Literally we had a ball and then we realised that the accommodation is at the extreme corner of the county. That was the northern most tip of Ireland and this was again a fantastic accidental booking. The tiny village of dunfanaghy has inspired Artists and Poets for centuries.
Day two started off with a drive to the Horn head to see some of the deadliest cliffs. Some of them more than 650 high. Way back we decided to be a little more adventurous so decided to take a hike through a nature reserve to a secluded beach. Not many tourists get to this place. The nature reserve is three mile sand dune covered area with thousands of borrows of Hares.
The beach was like what Jodie foster saw after going though the space worm machine in the Movie 'Contact' .
Absolutely serene and pristine. Made me wanna stay there but had to move on and picked up a pebble that I have on my desk at office to remind me of the tranquility I experienced. There was lake called the "New found lake" on the other side of the reserve. Its' called so, because overnight a storm blew sand off the shores and closed the strait locking up water in the land. Earlier the sand was held by tall reeds which was cut during WWII for bedding. My friends wated to enjoy the scenic coast , we decided to take the Atlantic drive which is 40 kms longer. That was a bad idea. The Roads not only swung left to right but was bobbing up and down as well. Two of of three had to spill things out the way It went in.
Driving towards the destination Sligo we drove through the Glengesh pass.
More than the beauty of the valley what amazed me was the weather. In under five minutes we experienced bright sun shine, followed by few seconds of rain, then by savage hail storm pelting that made us run for cover then as we shut the doors the sun was out mocking at our helter-skelter run.We reached our second destination in Sligo, called the Arrow head.
Day three begun with much joy thanks to the hospitality of the BnB host.He guided us to a Raptor center and to some ancient tombs. The Rator center was the highlight.
The German family took care of more than 170 different species of birds of prey. Most of the birds that could easily disembowel a medium size mammal was in harmony with peacocks and cockerel. These birds hunt when hungry and not for fun. Some fantastic demonstrations of these skilled aviators made me feel my existence is insignificant. They could spot a shard of meat from hundreds of meters across and fly to it with such pace and accuracy that even my DSLR could not catch up.
I gained a new sense of respect for these aviators and realized their importance for the eco system. Some interesting facts
1 .It seems the eagles always hunts for the weak and ailing prey, not the ones that are healthy.
That is because they want the healthy to reproduce to provide more food.
2.The female eagle is 33% larger than male because, then in the same territory both can prey on different sized preys.
3.Vultures have bald head so that they can easily get into the crevices of carcass to pull out meat and they do not hunt. they have to soar in air for longer hence they have the longest wingspan so that they can stay in air without flapping.
After spending a couple of hours which was literally flew past us , we headed to the tombs at the creekwell. These tombs are more than five thousand years old and one can spot many of such tombs atop all the mountains nearby. I just wonder what was going though the mind of the people then. The weather turned hostile and we had to descend. On the final return had a minor accident which was totally accidental but not a favored one; while reversing the car bumped into a pole and broke the tail lamps.It did dampen the spirit a little. Thanks to the extra insurance which total covered us which was a great relief. We reached Dublin 860 kms later.
But honestly my mind still wanders there in the far north west Ireland.
For more pictures you can click on the link below
