Grianan of Aileach

The way our trip planning had worked out, our longest day (distance) was from Portrush, in Northern Ireland, to Westport, in County Mayo. Unfortunately, this meant no time to explore Donegal, let alone it's coast, or any of the area around Sligo. Even with three weeks, you can't do everything.

We did drive up to Grianan of Aileach, on the top of a hill not far west of Derry (we're back in the Republic of Ireland). This is a ring fort - the first one we'd seen on the trip. It turns out ring forts are all over the place - one thing I read said there were as many as 45,000 dotted around Ireland - most fuzzy stone rings and overgrown copses in the midst of sheep pastures and farm fields. But this one is impressively positioned on its hilltop and nicely restored.

We arrived in a squall, but we waited it out in the car and eventually it stopped. It was still gray and windy - although maybe not as cold as it looks.

We saw several more ring forts on the trip, including a great one in Kerry that I'm sure I'll get to as I work down through the stack.