The Northwest (of Ireland)

Grianan of Aileach Ring Fort

The next day we had a more leisurely schedule. K and I went for a run along the trails of the River Foyle in Derry again and then we were headed to our next hotel just two hours south. We were traveling in the northwest of Ireland and it was funny to see references to that. It seemed quite familiar!

We did stop at a couple of very interesting sites along the way. The ring fort pictures above was very dramatically perched on the hills above a beautiful valley. It was great fun climbing all over the ring fort and taking in the views. 

We next went to the Newmills Corn and Flax Mill historical technological site where it felt like we got a private tour from a very knowledgeable and dedicated tour guide. It was a very peaceful setting and a huge watermill which was still in use (and owned by the same family) up until the early 80s. Corn refers to grains in Ireland and none of us knew anything about the production of flax for linen. It was fascinating!

We made it to our next stop with plenty of time for me to ask the front desk about running loops. They gave me a map and said the loop was about a 5k. I had about an hour before dinner so I hurried and ran the 3.6 miles fast and had a blast. 

Newmills Corn and Flax Mill: a

Derry, Northern Ireland

Of course i need to do a vacation recap. It is too hard to do while we are in the midst of vacating.

1. The Peace Bridge pedestrian crossing of River Foyle.

Why Ireland? I was asked that quite a lot. No, I'm not Irish. I think the first time I ever saw a photo of the Giant's Causeway, I knew we had to go see that and K agreed. We'd hoped to visit Ireland the very first time we went to the United Kingdom way back in 2004 but quickly realized that there were so many places to enjoy in England, Wales and Scotland that it didn't make sense to cram in Ireland and Northern Ireland too.  So we waited and waited.

2. The Runner, bogside Mural.

3. Dark lava rock and beautiful bluey green fescue.

The Troubles are a long and complicated part of Ireland and I think as an American, I really cannot explain all the nuances. I will just say that The Troubles although settled with a 1998 Peace Accord still is very much present as recent history even those events that took place a century ago or more. That is very recent history to be sure.

I chose to base our explorations of Northern Ireland from Derry (Londonderry technically). Why Derry and not Belfast? Derry has intact medieval city walls and a very interesting history plus an easy access to the Antrium Coast and the Giant's Causeway.

We got in very late Saturday and drove towards Derry. I expected a lot of traffic and was surprised by how very little traffic there was. That was true of most of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Yes there were rush hours in main cities but in general, very little traffic. After such a long day of (delayed) travel, we opted to sleep in a bit. The sites we were visiting required time to appreciate and I didn't want to be so tired.

good call.  I did go out for an easy exploratory run before breakfast, of course!

And The Giant's Causeway, Dunluce Castle and Derry itself was amazing!

Photos:
1. The Peace Bridge connects the more traditionally Catholic older side of town with the Protestant newer side of the river (Watertown). It's a pretty stunning sinuous bridge. there are pedestrian/bike trails on either side of the river.

2. Free Derry and Bogside Murals. The murals and peaceful atmosphere of these streets at dusk Sunday evening made me teary. What terrible events happened here so many years ago. We walked by flats where kids were playing outside now and that was a poignant reminder of what a toll this history must have taken on generations.

3 & 4. The Giant's Causeway has multiple trails that are always open. We did a harder overlook trail and then added on an out and back trail which just had spectacular views. It helped that the weather was amazing. I would love to go back and hike/(ok run) more of these trails. 

4. Giant's Causeway

Ireland is greener.

The Evergreen State doesn't do too badly in comparison but we definitely have more evergreens and the greens just don't look as green.

The cure for Jet lag

Keswick is happy we are back.

1. Run 3 super easy miles soon after you wake up very early at 4:30 am. 

2. Sit on couch with cat many times during the day. I was spacey feeling but never sleepy during the day.

3. Run a 10k race on trails in evening. 

I think i have found the magic cure! I still feel totally spacy today and was happy i could take one day off from work after getting back late last night to deal with grocery shopping and laundry and the garden. The 10k race was at a park I've maybe run through once or twice. It's a warm day here and I'd hoped that the park's location right next to puget sound and it's deeply forested creek would help keep it a bit cooler and I think it was. 

I just wanted a good tempo effort and to enjoy myself and i did! I ended up 4th woman overall and did chase the 3rd place for the last half mile but i couldn't catch her.  Oh well. I tried. I felt really underfueled and this trail had a lot of stairs in it but I ran well. I took my garmin off of automatic lap splits and just did a manual lap once i'd completed the 5k loop once. I ran by myself for almost the entire race as these are very small races. I was very steady though! The first loop was 28:49 and the second loop was 28:48.