Eachtraíochta! Is the Irish word for ADVENTURE! And that is exactly what we have been doing here in Letterkenny so far! Thankfully, with the help of some amazing community members, especially our landlord Ed and his family, and our community mom, Attracta and her family, we’ve been able to see so much of this amazing country! What amazes me the the most is that Ireland is such a small country, yet there is so much adventure and so much beauty in it! Everywhere I look, it’s just beautiful, I have to keep pinching myself that this isn’t a movie, this is real life! Our adventures started off simple. Our first adventure was taknng Ed’s dog, Buster, to go for a swim at Rathmullan Beach! On a series of very narrow and windy roads, Rathmullan Beach sits only 15 mintues away from our house! If you know me at all, you know I am obsessed with the beach, so going to the beach was amazing for me! We played with Buster and took in the amazing scenery! On our next adventure, Attracta and her family took us to Glenveagh National Park, only 20 minutes from our house! This place was literally NARNIA!! There were beautiful mountains, an incredible castle(once owned by an American),and amazing gardens surrounding the castle. I happened to be wearing a green sweatshirt, so I basically looked like a green gremlin amongst all the scenery!They even had a little cafe outside the castle, with chocolate brownies! (MAN DO I LOVE THIS COUNTRY!) Following this, Attracta knew about my obsession with the beach and my dream to be a mermaid-so she decided to take Faith and I to Portsalon aka Ballymastocker Bay to go boogie boarding! It was absolutely freezing and even down-poured as Attracta and I were putting on our wetsuits!
Once we got down to the beach, it was amazing, we were the only people there and there were multiple caves you could explore! Attracta and I ran into the water and caught some incredible waves! I was literally so happy I could cry! I then found out that Ballymastocker Bay was voted the second best beach in the WORLD! How unreal to ride waves and have the beach to yourself!! (CAN THIS GET ANY BETTER!) After those amazing adventures, we then set of with our man Ed for an adventure to the Fanad Head Lighthouse. We always joke with Ed that he drives like a maniac, but he insists that it is the roads, not him! Between the roads and the driving- I have felt car sick on all of our amazing adventures! But hey-it’s worth it right?! After navigating the roads we get out to the lighthouse which is just stunning! Faith and I missed our tour time-so we ended up getting our own private tour-where we learned the history of the lighthouse and about the tragedies that have occurred there! We even got to go all the way up to the tower and see the massive lightbulb! For our final adventure (so far!)- Ed took all of us scholars to the cliffs at Slieve League! The drive there was yet again very crazy and I actually almost threw up this time! However, the view was just unbelievable! We had no idea that you can actually hike these amazing cliffsso we weren’t exactly wearing the proper footwear! We climbed very high up and got to explore all around the cliffs, you can even walk up right to the edge! Just don’t slip! After the hike down, we got some delicious, homemade ice cream from a nice man who had an ice cream cart at the bottom of the cliffs! All in all, traveling around Donegal has been incredible! Even though I feel sick almost every single trip, it’s so worth it! This has to be one of the most beautiful countries I have ever visited! Huge thank you to Ed, Attracta, and their families for these amazing adventures so far! Sport Changes Life and The Rory Foundation are making this a year to remember already! Stay tuned for my next blog about my national league team- TEAM NORTH WEST and our trip to Spain this weekend!!
