We had a great bus trip through from Belfast to Sligo. It was wet first thing but the day improved and we enjoyed our trip through rural Northern Ireland to Enniskillen where we caught another bus to Sligo. The first trip we paid in pounds and the second in euros.
We crossed the border into Southern Ireland without any fanfare or even any signposts.
There was a beautiful trip up through villages and several small towns before we entered a beautiful Valley with a lough and steep hills complete with a significant waterfall. It was a lovely drive.
We arrived in Sligo at 4.40pm to be met by our host who had arranged another B and B as he had double booked us so we are at the" An Cruise in Lan" and our host is Liam McGettigan,shades of Five Rivers.It was a good option as we had a very comfortable room and a great breakfast. Nice people.
Our stay was a short one, we enjoyed the town,it had quite a European feel to it,flowers on the bridges,lots of cafes and pubs with a river running through the town with salmon running. Fishermen lined the bridges and when we looked over the side we could see the salmon running. Quite a sight.
We went on a free walking tour in the morning before we caught the bus to Derry and we saw the Abby built in medieval times,along with the Yeats House and Spike Milligan house.
Our guide had lots of good stories to tell. Storytelling sits well with the Irish. She told us of Spike's refusal to get a British passport because he would not give allegiance to the Queen so he got an Irish one and his epitaph is in Gaelic so not to offend." I told you I was ill".
The abbey was rebuilt after the first fire. The pope called on the good people of Sligo to put their hands in their pockets to fund it's rebuild,particularly the rich residents. As an inducement he offered them a direct path to heaven.
Another story was that of the abbey again when the plaque struck. Apparently if you were rich enough to have a coffin you had a bell inside so if you came too inside you could ring your bell for a rescue. Apparently people lined up outside the grounds in the hope of rescuing someone.
The men in the nearby prison had to do hard labour and that involved walking 10,000 steps a day pushing the big water wheels for fresh water. It saved them because they had fresh water to drink so no prisoners died of the plague.
Anyway we had to leave the tour in order to walk to the bus station to catch our bus to Derry at 1.30pm.
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