DONEGAL TOWN

It’s the weekend – no class today. A lot of people are going home. I am the only one in my house who is staying for another week. There will be a whole new group tonight.
Marcas’s parents have a car. They were going to go back home through Donegal Town so we hitched a ride with them rather than going in on the (expensive) bus. I had to chase down the Swede to get my MinDisk recorder back. They were on their way to Galway but I was hoping that I would meet them in Donegal before the Galway bus left.
I heard Marcas’ whole life story on the journey. His mom is just as talkative as him (I wonder where he gets it from?). Marcas was her first-born when she was 35 but they had already adopted three children. He also has a sister, Ruth who was in the car with us. The family was waiting for news about the birth of his brother’s child. The baby has been expected for weeks but as yet there is no sign. His brother leaves in the wilds of County Clare with his Swiss wife who has renounced the benefits of civilization. They live out in the country in a caravan without running water or electricity.
They dropped us off just outside the town. We walked into town. It didn’t take us long to find Joachim and Anna – I got my MiniDisk back and am ready to record some music!
Marcas wanted to buy the newspapers and hang out reading in a pub. I wasn’t keen on that plan. I headed down to the castle to see what is new since I took the tour two years ago.
The castle has a brand-new entrance but apart from that there hasn’t been any significant change. There were some new interpretive panels and a new staircase has been opened up linking the ground floor with the first floor. The rope banister on the stone stairway reminded me of the staircase in Jenny Willis’ house.
After the castle I visited the Church of Ireland building across the street then walked along the river (Eske River) between the bridges. I walked up to the Catholic church building for a look inside. I’m always surprised at how sterile Catholic churches are – this one was no exception though it did have some nice stained glass windows. I continued down that road to the Famine Graveyard then walked back to the centre to check out the ruins of the Donegal Priory.
By the time I was finished at the priory it was getting late in the afternoon. I walked out to the SuperValu supermarket to buy some things for the week. I met Marcas at the Blueberry Café and we had dinner together before getting on the bus to come back home.