Missing Ireland

The Gardener's Cottage, near Glenveagh Castle, County Donegal. Photographer unknown.

“I felt a pang … a strange and inexplicable pang I had never felt before. It was homesickness. Now, even more than I had earlier, when I'd first glimpsed it, I longed to be transported into that quiet little landscape … to walk up the path, to take a key from my pocket and open the cottage door, to sit down by the fireplace, to wrap my arms around myself, and to stay there forever and ever.”

― Alan Bradley

GWEEDORE AND THE BLOODY FORELAND … County Donegal

With sunsets like this, it’s no wonder that those who’ve left Ireland want to come back, those who visit never want to leave, and those who haven’t left count themselves lucky.

This is the parish of Gweedore and the Atlantic coastline here is called the Bloody Foreland. You might think that’s perhaps because vicious battles were fought here whereas, in fact, it’s possibly one of the less bloody places in Ireland, having been so poor that no one really gave enough of a toss to fight over it. It gets its names because in the evening, the sun lights up the rocks to a reddish hue.

Gweedore includes the villages of Bunbeg, Derrybeg, Dunlewey, Crolly and Brinalack and sits in the shade of Donegal's highest peak, Errigal.

Gweedore is in the Gaeltacht and is known as being a cradle of Irish culture, with old Irish customs, traditional music, Gaelic games and the Irish language playing a central and pivotal role in the lives of the local people. The only local newspaper currently in circulation is an Irish-language weekly.

From Ireland and Peg's Cottage