Glenveagh National Park 25 July 2016

Road trip!  Definitely a better way of spending a Monday afternoon than work.

We headed out to Glenveagh National Park in North West County Donegal on the shores of Lough Veagh in the heart of the Derry Veagh Mountains.  At 170 square kilometres, it's the 2nd largest national park in Ireland after the Wicklow Mountains.

And so beautiful!  Though we were right in the middle of midge season, they weren't too bad.  There is a shuttle bus from the gate but energetically we decided to walk. There is apparently a very large herd of red deer here, though we didn't see them. Also apparently the formerly extinct Golden Eagle has been introduced but we didn't see them either.

I'm not sure how long the walk was.  According to Liz it was "just around the corner" for a lot of the walk, but as I still didn't have glasses, I was taking her word for it.  It didn't spoil the experience though and the company was excellent.

In the middle of the park is the Castle.  A 19th century castellated mansion in the Scottish Baronial style built by John Adair in the late 1850's.  He was Scottish born, made his fortune in America and came back to Scotland to build a castle that would rival Balmoral.

He wasn't a popular landowner.  In 1861 in a fit of pique he evicted 244 of the traditional tenants into abject poverty because they were spoiling his view!

The castle is surrounded by beautiful gardens full of exotic plants and statues as well as a wonderful kitchen garden.

Cousins

We had arrived quite late in the afternoon so didn't get a chance to see inside the castle though we did walk around and peer in some windows.  A swimming pool in Ireland... I wonder how often that was used?

We caught the bus on the way back, first having to fight off some foreign tourists intent on jumping the queue.  Apparently this upsets Irishmen as much as it does Englishmen, good to know.

All this exploring! Thirsty work.  We headed off to the golf club with the amazing views.

And then home for a spectacular dinner and view straight out of the Hobbit's shire.  (As I'm writing, I'm also watching the Hobbit and seriously, the light!  They must have shot the Shire in Ireland).