8/21 -- Sheep Farmer, Yeats, Arrive in Donegal

We started the day at a sheep farm, where we got a demonstration of a dog working the sheep and took a tour of high bog lands. We continued  north and after lunch, stopped at the cemetery where W.B. Yeats is buried before arriving in Donegal.

This is the fjord Tom and family live on and see from their
front window. It is also used for farming clams and mussels.

Tom, the sheep farmer, was very engaging and started right off showing us how one of his dogs could round up a bunch of widely scattered sheep and drive them across fields, through gates, and into a pen, where he held them at bay. Tom called commands to him from quite a distance and we were surprised the dog could even hear him.

The black spot is the dog.

Then, wearing loaned wellington boots, we hiked UP to his peat (sometimes called turf) bogs. We thought they were in lowlands, but a combination of the historical woods and the current sphagnum moss and grasses in the area hold the water so that the entire hillside is what is called a 'blanket bog'. Then we hiked down for cookies and tea in his home before heading off to lunch.

Upper view of the fjord.

Tom in the peat. The dark area to his left is where peat
has been cut out.

Tom demonstrated how much water sphagnum moss  holds;
he squeezed the bunch in his right hand several times and
it kept on leaking.

On the way down to his house, we passed this
fairy tree, a hawthorne.

Another view of the fjord as we drove off to our next stop.

A small version of the caravan that gypies (or Travelers,
as they are known here) typically traveled in.

A statue to St. Patrick

Table Mountain

After lunch, we broke our northerly journey with a stop at the cemetery where W.B. Yeats is buried. Although he died and was buried in Monaco in 1939, he had requested burial in the churchyard where his grandfather had been a rector and he was re-interred there in 1949. There is also an 11th century tower on the grounds and a decorated Celtic cross from about the same time period.

11th century tower

Very old Celtic Cross

The church where Yeats' grandfather was a
rector and in whose cemetery his tomb is.

Interior of the church

Back on the bus, we arrived in Donegal around 5pm, in time to check in and have dinner.