Travels With Picasso

Today we explored all sides of Sheephaven Bay. Dunfanaghy sits at the end of one arm of this complex inlet from the vast Atlantic. We began with a stop at The Gallery, the town’s biggest art gallery. It features some well known Irish artists and the prices showed it. Many were in the thousands of Euros! We especially liked the three generations of the Eggington family. Frank Eggington  Robert Eggington Their painting is terrific.

Next we stopped at the site of the Stuart manor house that is now a ruin. We believe Jean’s grandfather’s family lived on those grounds. The house and grounds are now occupied by sheep. That’s not so unusual in Donegal. Sheep are everywhere. In fact it’s been difficult to find a Belle of Donegal picture. I feared that the belle here would be a ewe. However, today a belle spoke to me from across the pasture and I snapped her picture. (See below.)

We drove up and around Horn Head in the early afternoon. It is a narrow one lane road with cliffs on both sides – one side up and the other side down. If you meet another vehicle, one of you must back up to find a place wide enough for the other to squeeze by. It is hair raising, especially for the passenger who is sitting on the edge. Jean did her best to remind me where the pavement was. The views were spectacular and well worth it.

Next we drove to Doe Castle, a 16^th century castle that sits on the shores of Sheephaven Bay. It is surrounded by tidal estuary on three sides with a moat on the landward side. The vistas of castle stone, fluffy could-filled skies, distant headlands, sandy estuary (the tide was out), and flowers blooming everywhere were stunning. We couldn’t stop taking photos.

I then decided to drive to the opposite side of Sheephaven Bay along what is called the Atlantic Drive. It turned into an hour of creeping along one lane roads that have grass growing in the middle of them. We only met a few cars and had to back up twice. Once I backed into one of the ubiquitous rock walls. (Thankfully we chose to buy the extra insurance.) The most surprising thing about this drive was that many people actually live back there on that so-called road. Another shock was that our GPS knew where we were at all times and even had names for those roads! Not that we could prove it accurate. The Irish don’t post road names. Instead they post destinations at intersections. We need to teach that to the GPS companies.

Our day ended back in Dunfanaghy on the shores of Sheephaven Bay. The tide was coming in across the sands. We stopped at the beach across from our B&B and then walked the short promenade along downtown Dnfanaghy (about 50 yards). After a fabulous dinner at Arnolds Hotel, where we have eaten every night, we’re back in our room. Here are a few pics to give you a sense of what we saw. There are hundreds more.

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Time for an update from the last three days. We have been busy. On Friday we spent our last day at Rock-a-Doon at a county park on Loch Key near our house. We photographed ruins, walked lovely wooded trails, and enjoyed a sunlit day outside. One highlight was to photograph a marvelous sculpture on the road…The Celtic Warrior. Public art is quite common in Ireland and quite beautiful.

On Saturday we drove north to Donegal. On the way to Dunfanaghy we stopped at Glebe House and Gallery, the home of the late artist Derek Hill. This out of the way place is well worth finding. The grounds are 25 acres of parkland on a small lough. The house is simple Georgian. However, Hill’s eclectic tastes decorated and furnished the inside with art, china, nicknacks, and furniture from all over the world. One American neighbor commented that the Tiffany lamp was grotesque, but seemed to fit with the rest of the decor. I haven’t included pictures from there, but Jean has some. Artists in the collection include Picasso, Jack Yeats, and Renoir.

We arrived in Dunfanaghy in late afternoon and checked into Carrigan House, a B&B recommended by Jean’s counsin Frank. He had also been here researching their ancestors. Their grandfather’s family came from here. That evening after dinner we drove up to Horn Head, the location of the Stewart House where the Hay/HaysHayes family reportedly lived before immmigrating to America. Horn head is a large cape that protects Dunfanaghy from the direct onslaught of the Atlantic. I have included some pictures from there. Today we’re going to drive into the Stewart House property. It’s marked Private, but what the hell?

Yesterday we took a boat to Tory Island, home of a group of naive artists developed by Derek Hill. It lies about 8 miles offshore. The weather was grey, foggy, and misty. We lost sight of the mainland before reaching the island. The King of Tory Island, Patsy Dan Rodgers, met us at the dock and later showed us some of his paintings in the island’s social hall that acts as their pub. We hiked around the north end of the island to see and photograph the cliffs and scenery. It is ruggedly beautiful with a small community of hardy soles living out there on the edge of Europe. As on Horn Head and elsewhere, the moors are covered with small flowers that hug the ground and rocks for warmth.

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