We’re leaving the Redcastle and heading for more adventures on the North Irish Coast. We’ve come south past Derry and we’re south of Strabane on the outskirts of the Sperrin Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Our first stop is the Ulster American Folk Park which tells the story of 2 million Irish people who sailed away to start a new life in the New World.
Local recreators give full meaning to the various buildings and events.
One of the sites is the original home of Thomas Mellon, who emigrated at the age of 5 with his parents to Pennsylvania. He became a lawyer, judge and the founder of the Mellon Bank, which is apparently still one of the largest in the US.
We follow the trail to the harbour and boats that took people across the Atlantic and we end up in a city in America that has products and food stuff that they could only have imagined back home.
We could have spent much longer here, in fact a full day would not be out of the question. I’ll add it to the list of things I’d like to go back to and explore in more detail.
We’re on the road again to Caldragh Cemetery which has some unusual stone figures. The larger of the figures is the Boa Island bilateral figure. It is regarded as one of the most enigmatic and remarkable stone figures in Ireland. It is called a Janus-figure because it has two faces, reminding some of the Roman two-headed deity Janus, however, it is not a representation of Janus. It is thought to represent a Celtic deity and could represent a Celtic goddess as readily as a god, especially given the name of the island.
We don’t have to far to go to reach Belleek and the world famous Belleek Pottery…never heard of it…me neither, but it claims to be the oldest working fine china pottery in Ireland. We have a tour through the plant and meet some of the people actually working on pieces.
The most impressive works are the baskets that are essentially woven pieces of clay.
There’s a huge variety of these baskets and difficult to figure out which one is the best…or should I say photogenic. Picking at random…here’s a good example of this very fine work.
We’re heading to County Roscommon and Kilronan Castle for dinner and the night… but before we get there though Peter has us down another backroad for a photo op of Castle Classiebawn taken from some distance away.
It’s on private property and this is about the best view you can get. It helps that the rest of the scenery is stunning.
Kilronan Castle is actually a restored castle that is quite stunning. It overlooks Lough Meelagh and is located somewhere southeast of Sligo.
It’s been a busy day and I’m ready for a pint, a dinner and eventually my bed.
Stand down.