Malin Head onto Derry - 20 May 2023

20 May 2023 - Malin Head/end of WAW and into Derry - Northern Ireland

Another peaceful location last night, and slept well - could hear the sea in the distance, and the donkeys braying occasionally. The skies looked ominous over the beach this morning.

My turn to drive - about 3 hours on and off.

Drove to Malin Head - this is the final signature discovery point on the WAW. I’m glad we were there by 10.30am, parked easily - an hour later the carparks were full!

Banba’s Crown is the most northerly point. Allegedly on a clear day you can see Scotland - not today!

We walked out to Hell’s Hole - obviously the wrong tide, as we couldn’t hear a ‘thunderous sound’ as the sea came in. Didn’t see any basking sharks or seals either! However, the whole scenery was spectacular. Looking back through the photos, as is often the case - looked better in real life!

We’d seen an EIRE sign previously at Slieve League - during WWII painted stones were pressed into the ground to spell EIRE, this was to warn aircraft that they were flying over neutral Irish territory.

The pinks seem to grow in the most inhospitable of places! We didn’t see that many birds, maybe generally it’s not a good place to breed? Today was really calm. Did see a chough fly overhead though, an endangered bird which breeds at Malin Head, nesting in the cliffs. (No photo ☹️)

We’ve noticed so many ‘pop up’ coffee trucks, on beaches and at random tourist hotspots. There was even a ‘gift shop’! And yes, looks like some of Star Wars was filmed there…

From there, about an hours drive to Moville where we parked up on a pier so we could have lunch. Bacon butty with egg mayonnaise!

From the window we could see a heron ‘fishing’, a couple of oyster catchers, hooded crows and guillemots - lovely 😊

We filled up with diesel once more, it must be more expensive in Northern Island as we saw queues of traffic coming to Ireland for fuel.

The weather has been about the warmest for weeks - getting up into the high double digits - but not for long!

Crossing the border/finishing off the WAW was a non-event!

We’re parked up overlooking the River Foyle in Derry/Londonderry - not sure what to call it. Tourist boards call it “legend-Derry”!

We can see the double deck bridge in front of us - will take a photo tomorrow when it’s not raining!

It has such a different feel here. Really busy for one thing, people don’t have a cheery ‘hello’, and some don’t even respond when you smile or say hi. Plus, litter and graffiti - and we have a general air of ‘what are we doing here’!

We’re now in miles and pounds. Tintin went to pay for the parking, the machine wasn’t accepting our Euros (can pay with either pounds or euros) - just so happened that the traffic warden was there, said the fee had increased from 1st May to 50p/hour - but machine wasn’t working.  He assured Tintin he’s the only traffic warden, and was knocking off for the day - so no problem with us having no ticket!

We went for a very brief walk. Wasn’t due to rain until 4pm, but forecast was 30 minutes wrong. It’s not just a gentle shower - it’s quite heavy, and set in all night…

This is The Hands Across The Divide Statue.

We walked up a dead end to see some murals as per our map - just didn’t feel right. The little dog, however, was so cute. Whimpering and desperate for attention - think he would have come with us!

Would have gone inside St Columb’s cathedral - but even that was locked, despite the opening hours showing it to be open.

Gave up and will try again tomorrow as the rain should have stopped by then.

Nothing for it but to drink some more rum & coke whilst our garlic kievs and gratin potatoes are hopefully cooking in the oven. It does have a tendency to go out, so have to keep checking it…