Goldfinch comes for food on Donegal Day 6
Finished off another terrific day in Donegal with a superb
meal in the Olde Glen Bar, where the proprietor Cormac Walsh has Cork
connections. Started off with an excellent local (Carrigart) Smoked Salmon served with horse
radish, crème fraiche and crispy capers. Our other starter was the Smoked Duck
Salad served with a beetroot carpaccio, somewhat drier than the Ummera product
but enjoyable nonetheless.
Picked my mains off the specials board: Pan-fried Turbot
with crab butter and champ. Excellent, right down to the humble champ! CL
choose from the regular list and absolutely enjoyed her Herb Crusted fillet of
Cod with a butter bean and chorizo ragout. Both the beans and the chorizo added
to the delicious cod.
Happy out and even happier as we polished off the dessert,
both going for the Tunisian Orange Cake, a favourite in these quarters! Wine,
by the way, was also a winner. It was the Walnut Block Collectible Sauvignon
Blanc 2012 from Marlborough (New Zealand).
After a lazy start, overdue, we headed for Fintown and itsnarrow gauge railway,
the only piece of railway infrastructure that remains of the 220 miles of
narrow gauge railway that operated in Donegal in the early 20th
century.
Now Traenach na Gaeltachta Lair operate a single carriage diesel
engined railcar over a three and a quarter mile picturesque stretch along the
shores of Lough Finn and under the shadow of three large hills, the highest of
which is Achla (598m).
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| View on the train trip |
The reopening was in June 1995 and the locals quickly christened
the loco the “Black Pig”. The proper name is Railcar 18 and it is an original railcar of the County Donegal Railway which entered service in
1940. Much more info on the website above.
Headed back then towards the coast and the sun came out
through the clouds. Sun or no sun the turf was being saved on the bogs between
Dungloe and Gweedore. On the previous day’s trip, we had skipped Horn Head and
that was to be rectified today.
Turned off in Dunfanaghy and headed up the narrow road to
the head which gives great views, to the right towards Rosguill and to the left towards the islands including Tory. Hard to hold the camera in the wind up
there.
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| Tory Island |
Somewhat easier to do so during that lazy morning as we
watched the birds come to feed outside the cottage half-door. There was a
“stranger” there this morning, with a beautiful Goldfinch joining his green
cousins. Not too sure he was welcomed though!
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| Goldfinch (left) |
