Irish Mass

Sunday 10^th April
We started the day by going to the 0930 mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Donegal.  This turned out to be a very different experience.  There was a whole lot of kneeling (not healing) happening at St Patrick’s.  The priest sounded like he had the fast forward button pushed as he sped through the mass.  There was no singing, and the mass took 32 minutes from start to completion. There was no peace offering and no offertory procession and money was collected as the priest plowed on through the mass. I had a moment of homesickness at mass, as usually when I go to mass, my dear dad is on the alter and always will give me a loving reassuring smile-but of course no Donny Day at mass today.  

Well 1/3 people only speaking Gaelacht in Donegal was a load of cods wallop; we didn’t hear anyone who didn’t speak English, albeit with a very heavy accent.  Last night we went to a little pub after dinner and it had an old fella, who was as pissed as a nit who was coping a feel of this lovely young blonde girl, as he said repeatedly “ America saved the world” in a very heavy accent.  I was absolutely amazed at this young ladies tolerance of the old fella. 
 
Strolling around the shops of Donegal was a bit of fun this morning, we met an old codger who wanted to know Spock’s name.  He then called him “Tornee” and what a delightful character he turned out to be, he asked us where we were heading and gave us some fabulous tips on where to call in to on our travels today.  They were great tips, however Sheila didn’t necessarily agree.  Sheila continues to be disagreeable in Ireland.  But we are doing ok turning her off.

Rossnowlgh was the first of the old codgars’s tips and is a lovely seaside beach resort and area located in south County Donegal, in the north-west of Ireland. The extensive beach is very popular and was frequented by walkers, surfers, wind-surfers, kite-surfers and swimmers.  We were very surprised by the quality wide sandy beach and we had a nice stroll along it.  The little town was full of holiday shacks and mobile homes.
Bundoran was the next tip on the old fellas list that he wrote down for us.  We asked around and found out that Bundoran is 3 hours’ drive from Dublin and 2 ½ hours from Belfast.  The town is well-known as one of Ireland's most popular seaside resorts and the surf was up today, there were surfers everywhere.  

Beach at Rossnowlgh

On our drive through to Ballina, our base for the night, we drove through many abandoned housing estates.  These are new housing areas that due to the recession have been abolished midway through the build.  It was very sad as many of them are quiet grand.  There wasn’t just one or two of these areas but many, such a shame.


We are quiet amazed as at the large areas of the countryside that are not being worked, there are lovely large green paddocks all fenced off, but with no stock on them.  This seems to be part of the course in Ireland, if there is stock on them its only 4 or so sheep or cows in the one huge pasture.  It seems a bit unproductive to us. 


Ballina is our base for the night has the River Moy which is one of the most prolific rivers in Europe for catching salmon, and there are also otters and grey seals in this river.  Our accommodation is on the banks of the River Moy which is just beautiful.  As we sit outside in the gazebo drinking our pints the birds are chirping as there are trees all around, and we listen to the flowing sounds of the river.

Spock insists that I write about the carvery lunch we had in Donegal, suffice it to say we wont be having any dinner tonight.   It was grand.