Day 11 Donegal to Letterkenny

September 18, 2024

MOur penultimate ride was 90km long with 4,111ft of climbing, the most on the trip so far. It was a lovely ride through the Glenveagh National Park which is a high mountain park of lakes and scrub. It once was inhabited by itinerant farmers making a subsistence living but in 1861, as part of the Derryveagh evictions, many families were evicted from their homes by the landlord backed by the Crowbar brigade. Many people ended up in work houses or emigrating to the new world. Ruins of the farms dot the landscape. We had another lovely picnic lunch by a lake in the warm sunshine. Although the ride had lots of climbing there were also some amazing long downhill runs on one of which I reached 68kph on a hybrid e-bike so imagine how fast I would have gone on my road bike. Tonight we had our final dinner together since tomorrow will be a long day culminating in Belfast about 7pm. I will be heading to Italy the next day.

Our coffee stop is in the town famous for the play that we attended in Dublin. The play was written by a local playwright and is based upon this town.

Just one of several abandoned homes from the era of the evictions.

Looking the other way from the lunch stop

The red line actually shows the route to the top of the 3.3km climb

Today's ride: 90 km (56 miles)
Total: 564 km (350 miles)

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