~ HOLY WELLS OF DONEGAL: LOCAL HELP IS KEY ~ "... Now just imagine having to search this muddy field without local help! Luckily, a local man in the area who had never heard of this holy well even though he had lived there his entire 40 plus years, was able to direct me to another man in the area. I asked 'is he the man who knows everything?' and he smiled, and said 'yes'. This is my name for the man or woman who has great local knowledge and they have proven invaluable in my quest to find all the holy wells of Donegal."
~ SANDRA'S RUN 2022 ~ "Teddy bears and other soft toys are tied to fences, poles, trees etc. along route of the ride and bikers and cars on it usually have soft toys tied to them. It really is heart-warming and quite a sight to see and shows the support of so many for this event."
~ HOLY WELLS OF DONEGAL: A Strange Phenomenon ~ "And interestingly in the same book the author says “The tide passes over the well, but when the tide ebbs the water in the well is fresh.” I thought this seemed a bit far-fetched and so I had to taste the water from the Well. How could the water remain fresh when it is covered by the salty sea twice a day?".
~ HOLY WELLS OF DONEGAL: Update June 2022 ~ "This is turning into quite an adventure and almost a competition with myself. Currently I am up to approximately 61 sites with many more being investigated prior to attempts to find them." ~ SLIABH LIAG (SLIEVE LEAGUE) HINTS, TIPS AND HEIGHT ~ "... In fact they are the exact same height as the fourth tallest building in the world, The Abraj Al-Bait Clock Tower in Saudia Arabia."
~ IN SEARCH OF THE HOLY WELLS OF DONEGAL: AND SO IT BEGAN ~ "I have been taking photographs of Holy Wells from some time but usually only if there happens to be one where I am photographing other sites. Then I will get to it and take photographs. But recently I was what I can only describe as “bitten” by a desire to find them all."
~ A VALENTINE'S DAY TO REMEMBER ~ The St. Valentine's Day we decided to climb Errigal in the snow, ice, sub-zero gales, rain, hail and even sunshine at the top.
~ A DONEGAL MIRACLE? ~ "At another Donegal Holy Well yesterday I met a man who was there praying. After he had finished his prayers I began taking my photographs of the Holy Well and we got chatting."
~ ONCE IN ROYAL DAVID'S CITY AND THE DONEGAL CONNECTION ~ "'Once In Royal David’s City’ is one of the most beautiful of Christmas hymns. Once heard, who can ever forget the perfect voice of a young soloist performing the first verse? But did you know the woman who wrote it was born in Ireland and spent a lot of her life close to and indeed in Donegal too?"
~ DONEGAL: A YEAR ROUND GEM ~ "... Donegal is generally not visited for the weather. Yes, we can have excellent weather but we take that as a bonus. Donegal is special for many more reasons, the people, the craic, the food but at the top of the list, the scenery."
~ MAY IN DONEGAL ~ "Every month and season offers something special but for me, May in Donegal is extra special. Placed as it is on the tail end of spring and on the cusp of summer, the month of May seems to capture the best of those two seasons."
~ JANE AUSTEN'S NIECES IN DONEGAL ~ "The first of Jane’s nieces, and the youngest daughter of Edward Knight, to move to Ireland was Cassandra (Cass) who was named after her maternal grandmother. She married the landlord George Hill, formally Lord George Hill, on the 2st of October 1834, and they lived in Gortlee House, Letterkenny, where Cassandra gave birth to four children: Norah in 1835, Arthur in 1837, Augustus in 1839 and her last child, Cassandra in 1842. She died of puerperal fever just three days after giving birth to Cassandra."
~ SANDRA'S RUN MEMORIES COLLAGE ~ "'Sandra's Run' would normally take place on the first Saturday of July but has been postponed this year because of COVID 19 and will now take place on Saturday the 8th of August. In the meantime, for the 4th of July which would have been the run, we give you some memories of previous Sandra's Runs with some of our own photographs and some kindly shared with us by many of the bikers who take part."
~ ST. VALENTIINE IN IRELAND ~ "... Part of his remains (relics) now lie in Whitefriar Street Church, Dublin. Throughout the year they lie below the statue of St. Valentine at his altar there but for the days around and on St. Valentine’s Day they are exposed which means his casket is on display at the front of the church on the altar."
~ LETTERKENNY ARTISAN MARKET ~ Blog post and photographs from the Artisan Market that was in Letterkenny in 2017.
~ SANDRA'S RUN: THE HOMECOMING ~ Our photographs of the hundreds of bikers as they arrive back in Killybegs after completing 'Sandra's Run'.
~ EATING OYSTERS ... NAKED ~ "Do you eat your oysters naked too?" (Our video of me eating oysters "naked").
~ SANDRA'S RUN 2017 ~ "‘Sandra’s Run’ is an annual charity motor bike ride in south west Donegal held on the first Saturday in July each year."
~ REFLEXOLOGY FOR CHILDREN WITH AUTISM ~ "This Sunday, the 24th of July 2016, parents and friends will take part in the Extreme Gateway Mud Run (as part of The Extreme Gateway to Hell Mud Run) to raise funds so that more children with autism in the county can reap the benefits of reflexology."
~ DOLPHINS IN PARADISE! ~ "Yesterday, sitting on the soft sands of Fintra beach, the sun on my face and the sound of the sea lapping gently on the shoreline, I thought to myself "this really is my own little paradise". And just when I thought it couldn't get better ... it did!"
~ SANDRA'S RUN ~ "Sandra Boyle was the daughter of Rosaleen and Jim Boyle. She developed leukaemia as a young teen and battled it bravely for three years. During that three years Sandra did two mini marathons, the first she walked it and the second she was pushed in her wheelchair by her father, Jim. Sandra sadly died on the 21st of May 1991 just one day short of her 18th birthday. Jim and Rosaleen had always been into motorbike and raising money for charity (even before Sandra became ill) and so in 2005 they launched ‘Sandra’s Run’. That first year 14 bikers took part and last year that number had increased to 270 bikers!"
~ GET GARY TO GLENTIES! ~ Local woman Michelle, a mad Gary Barlow fan, and her effotrs to get Gary to Glenites.
~ A MUSICAL WITH GUTZ! ~ "'Gutz', an original musical written by David Oliver, comes to An Grianan Theatre, Letterkenny this weekend. The production includes a 10 piece live band, twenty five original songs, and a large cast of over 40, all of whom come from Donegal, Tyrone or Derry."
~ A BEAUTIFUL BUT BREEZY WALK ~ "At the weekend we decided to check out the boardwalk at Aughadahore near Carrigart and Glen village. A number of people had told me it was great and worth a visit and I found they weren’t wrong."
~ STAR WARS FOR MALIN HEAD, COUNTY DONEGAL? ~ "It is being widely mooted around the internet today that part of the new Star Wars film (Star Wars: Episode VIII) will use Ireland's most northerly point, Malin Head in County Donegal, as one of its filming locations."
~ CHASING DOLPHINS AT SUNSET ~ "The pod was passing by the Head! We all watched for a moment as they passed quickly by and then, as one, everyone ran to their cars and a mad dash down the now darkening narrow bendy road began, chasing the pod over to Portmor to see if they came in to frolick."
~ HAM SANDWICHES AND TALKING HEADS ... BUT NO DOLPHINS! ~ "Sitting there with my husband the other day waiting for sharks or dolphins to appear and eating our sandwiches, Talking Heads came on the car radio. We both love Talking Heads and I thought, "you know what? it really doesn't get much better than this". Well, it could have had the mist cleared and a pod of dolphins appeared, but we can't have everything!"
~ CORNCRAKES IN DONEGAL ~ "As anyone interested in nature and birds will know the corncrake population in Ireland is in stark decline, so much so that it is now a Red-listed breed. Although they are now rare, County Donegal is probably one of the best places in Ireland to hear, and possibly see, one if you are very lucky."
~ DONEGAL AUTSIM FAMILY SUPPORT GROUP AT ERRIGAL TWEET-UP ~ "The Errigal Tweet-Up 2014 drew lots of friends of the Donegal Autism Family Support Group to TURN ERRIGAL BLUE this year. Here are a selection of the photographs from some of those who took part."
~ A FAMINE STORY FROM DONEGAL ~ "As we approach St. Patrick's Day we are aware of the fact that this day is celebrated all over the world mainly because there are so many people or Irish descent worldwide. Many of their Irish born ancestors left Ireland during the Great Famine of the mid 19th century. In Donegal alone the population decreased by 41,000 between the Census of 1841 and the Census of 1851. Of those 41,000 some were lucky enough to have died naturally but many more died of starvation and the balance emigrated to countries such as America, Canada and Britain."
~ ST. PATRICK'S DAY ~ "St. Patrick's Day is celebrated on his feast day, the 17th of March, by millions worldwide every year. He is in fact the most celebrated saint worldwide."
~ BANBA'S CROWN GOES GREEN ~ "Throughout the world for St. Patrick's Day many iconic landmarks are 'going green', in other words being lit up with green lights, to celebrate Ireland and Ireland's most famous Saint."
~ ANOTHER DONEGAL GHOST VILLAGE ~ "We drove off the main road at Dunlewey and took the road across the lough and stumbled upon the village which is situated literally at the end of the road. Well the road for cars that is, hikers can continue along signposted trails."
~ DONEGAL INTERNATIONAL RALLY 2013 ~ "The Donegal International Rally is the biggest and one of the most challenging rallies in Ireland and attracts drivers and spectators from all over Ireland, the U.K. and Europe."
~ DONEGAL ~ MOST BLUE FLAG BEACHES IN IRELAND ~ "County Donegal, on the fabulous north west coast of Ireland has retained all our 13 Blue Flag Beach awards making it the Irish county with the most Blue Flag Beaches 2013."
~ INCH ISLAND WILDFOWL RESERVE ~ "Although I have been to Inch Island number of times, the first time to photograph places on the island, and after that there were many visits to see the swans and ducks on the man-made lake there, I had never made the effort to find the "hides" there so yesterday we decided we would go in search of them."
~ TRADITIONAL IRISH SODA BREAD ~ "One of the many lovely memories I have of being on my holidays in Donegal as a child is the older people making bread."
~ 2nd ANNUAL ERRIGAL TWEET-UP ~ "Once again a group of people will take part in the highest tweet-up in Ireland walking up the highest mountain in County Donegal, Errigal. Errigal stands 2,464 feet (751 meters) high so this is no mean feat!"
~ IS IT A GHOST? ~ "Do you believe in ghosts? I am not sure whether I do or not. However, something we caught on camera some years back makes me wonder."
~ "WILE GOOSE CHASE" INISHOWEN ~ "Early on Sunday morning, a very cold wintry morning I might add, we got up and got ourselves organised for a day out photographing and filming the "The Wile Goose Chase"
~ PROMOTING DONEGAL AS A FOODIE DESTINATION ~ "A group of students from Ohio University in the USA came to Donegal this summer specifically to make a documentary on Donegal and the countys relationship with growing and producing good and sustainable food for our people and for use in our eateriers."
~ GOLD PANNING IN DONEGAL ~ Marigolds - tick, wellies- tick, gold panning dish - tick. Of we go then ...
'GUTZ' COMES TO LETTERKENNY 'Gutz', an original musical written by David Oliver, comes to An Grianan Theatre, Letterkenny this weekend. The production includes a 10 piece live band, twenty five original songs, and a large cast of over 40, all of whom come from Donegal, Tyrone or Derry.