DONEGAL TOWN

I waited in the rain outside Roarty's for Seán. He had told me the night before in the pub that he would give me a ride to Donegal Town on his way home. I'm afraid Seán stayed too long in the pub and couldn't get up in the morning. It didn't matter though because Nancy picked me up as she was leaving to go back home to Athlone. She had two others in the car with her, Christine and a woman from Ohio.
It was still raining lightly when we reached Donegal Town. We decided to have coffee together before we all went our separate ways.
After we got Christine safely on the bus to Dublin Nancy offered to take me to the Lidl store on the outskirts of the town. I was glad of the offer because I wanted to explore the meagre alternatives to the SuperValu. We did our shopping then Nancy took me back into town. I probably could have walked the 2km but by that stage I did have a big Lidl bag to work with.
Nancy left me back at the Diamond and took off down the road to Sligo. I headed for the castle to see the changes that have taken place since last year.
The castle has changed a lot in the years that I have been visiting it. This year’s big change is the removal of the rope railing that led up the tripping stairs. That has been replaced with a very standard uncastle-like wooden hand rail. “Health and safety requirements”, chirped the guide when I asked about it. Everything has been painted and gussied up and looks nothing like how you would imagine it must have looked in the time of Red Hugh. The displays are still there in the exhibition hall including the reproduction of the Cathach but the guide made no reference to it in her account of daily life in the castle.
After the castle I walked down through the town again to the Famine Graveyard. I always like to visit this forgotten corner of our history. There are new signs that show the way. I wondered how many people were buried here. How badly affected was Donegal by the famine? Did the people come from the countryside around the town or were there large numbers of townspeople who died from famine related disease?
Later in the day I met Marcas at the Blueberry Café for dinner. Brian, the owner greeted me warmly. We only see each other once a year but he always remembers me and is glad to see me. I had a very good confit du canard with lentils. The new potatoes were fried in duck fat à la sarladaise. Delicious.
We hooked up with Mary and Sandy for the ride home in Mary’s car.