I've rented a Harley from the place in Waterford, but usually I rent a cheap, old Transalp or something. Still great fun!

 

Yes, spent a week in northwest Ireland last Sept., so spent time in Derry and Donegal. Some 0f the areas of Derry that commemorate the troubles were fascinating and so sad..

 

We drove through Derry on Orange Day 2007. It was like a ghost town. It was interesting watching the Orange day parade in Bushmill's some of the locals were dressed up like Native Americans.... I don't get it.

 

....And why is that guy carrying a Lightsaber?

 

Derry is a great town. I'm assuming you're talking about the Bogside (a neighborhood just outside the walls of Derry), where one can see the murals, bullet holes from Bloody Sunday, the H-Block memorial, and other lovely things. There are also Loyalist murals in (London)Derry, too.

Why the indian-style headdresses on King Billy's day? Well, William III did wage a war in the American colonies called "King William's War" in which he fought Indians and French Catholics (it was the first of the so-called French-Indian Wars). This was part of a complex series of wars waged against James II (the Catholic king he deposed) and those who supported him, like France. (Many Québecois are still somewhat bitter, as I understand.)

How the Loyalists turn that into their Orangemen's regalia I'm not sure, nor do I care. No idea about the light sabre--no accounting for a Loyalist's taste

But, yes, still many villages in NI are all one persuasion or the other. Bushmills is a prod village. Ballintoy is mixed, then Ballycastle is Catholic, etc etc etc.

I moved from NI when I was 5 and lived out the last 15 years of the Troubles in London, which wasn't particularly fun either. Try minding your own business and being Irish in London when the Provos were blowing up pubs, New Scotland Yard, etc.

Yet, I bear no ill will towards Irishmen of any persuasion, and have friends and relations of all stripe of Irish. A criminal is a criminal, and the Troubles was the work of criminals, some in uniform, some in office, all insane.

Shame, all that. NI is a beautiful place. I prefer to think of it as Ulster, which includes Donegal, as well.

To ride the Antrim coast, the Giant's Causeway and all that, to Derry, around Lough Foyle and up Inishowen......and putting around all the bits of the Donegal coast.....pure Ireland to me.

The down side to riding in NI is the cost of petrol! ....and the speed cameras!

 

I'm kind of glad I didn't know what Orange Day was all about till I asked a friend in Cork a few days after we were in NI. My wife and I are both Catholic. We had a great time at the Giant's Causeway some of the most amazing sunsets I've ever seen.

 

Well, remember: it wasn't a conflict over religion. Religion was just an easier way to identify the sides. William's victory at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 came 83 years after the Flight of the Earls, which left Ireland wide open to English of all types. (The Flight of the Earls was when the last of the Gaelic/Catholic leaders abandoned Ireland for Spain--the leader of the O'Donnell Clan is a Spanish aristocrat to this day!) Catholic Irish had only James II as a leader/defender against Continental/Protestant invaders. And so, those who supported William and his successors were the Irish (Protestants) who were granted all the political and commercial favor in return, and those descended from the Irish who supported James II continued to pay for it.

These days, most NI Protestants are middle class, whereas most NI Catholics are working class. So, NI Protestants = Tories; NI Catholics = Labour. The social and political boundaries are not as hard and fast as they once were, thank goodness. But throughout the Troubles they mostly were. Extremists on both sides have their own extreme parties and leaders. For every Ian Paisley there is a Gerry Adams.

OK.....history lesson over! promise! (did I sound neutral? I tried.....)

The Giant's Causeway is one of my favorite places in the world, and apparently one of UNESCO's favorite places, too. My grandfather used to take me there every summer and tell me the stories. Great memories.

 

"To ride the Antrim coast, the Giant's Causeway and all that, to Derry, around Lough Foyle and up Inishowen......and putting around all the bits of the Donegal coast.....pure Ireland to me."

AMEN,
That's actually the route we took after leaving Belfast, and while SW Ireland (Dingle Peninsula, etc) is lovely, it is tough to beat the Antrim coast for pure majesty. The only area of Ireland where you can walk across the Atlantic. Faber, I am sure you know what I am talking about.

 

Of course I know what you're talking about, Remike!

My grandfather used to tell me those stories all the time, of Fionn mac Cumhaill and Benandonner...........right there. When I was a boy, I so badly wanted to walk to Scotland. Once my grandfather gave me a snorkel and told me to try. You can imagine how that got me sorted!

Dingle is lovely, too. There's Gaeltacht down there, but I have a hard time understanding them. (maybe cuz I'm rusty) Dingle and the rest of Kerry is absolutely wonderful. Some don't like the tourism. I say that tourists usually gravitate to beautiful places.

Really hard to beat the Irish coast anywhere.

 

Stop talking about it or I'm gonna have to go back.