"Brilliant" in Derry, Letterkenny and the Northwest Coast

We had a bit of free time today due to continuing changes in our schedules with some of our interview subjects. Sean Barr, who we had hoped to catch in final preparations for his art exhibition on Thursday night, got caught in a travel snafu and wouldn't be in Letterkenny until late Wednesday night.

After a really cold night, we woke to bright blue skies. So we decided to stop in Derry/Londonderry and Letterkenny to get cover video of both places. Derry/Londonderry, Northern Ireland's Walled City, has two names. The Unionists (mostly Protestant citizens) use the more British sounding Londonderry. Looking over the southern wall of the city, you get to see the last working class Unionist neighborhood on the west bank of the River Foyle. There are two murals that really stick out to those walking the walls. (See picture above.)

Similar to Belfast, the two neighborhoods are very close together. Over the west wall, the Republican (mostly Catholic) segment of the city uses the name Derry or Free Derry. (See picture at left.) There are many murals showing their thoughts on "The Troubles." In between the buildings that have the murals painted on them is the Museum of Free Derry that takes patrons through the strife from the Republican point of view. There are a number of historical panels, pictures and items from the civil rights marches, newspaper clippings and other items including audio from "Bloody Sunday."

On January 30, 1972, British troops killed 26 unarmed people who had gathered to march for civil rights. The British military said that some in the crowd were armed and needed to be controlled. The event has continued to be controversial. This past summer, more than 38 years later, the Saville Report into the shootings was released saying that the marchers were unarmed and condemning the actions of the military. The report brought an apology from the British Prime Minister. Click here to read more about the report.

After a morning reliving the sectarian history of Derry/Londonderry, we headed off to Letterkenny to get a view of the town from above. We checked into our hotel and headed for the rugged Irish coast of County Donegal. John, as navigator, found a series of great roads that took us around the mountains and next to the cliffs where we could look out at the storm brewing over the north Atlantic.

We got to travel through little wind swept hamlets with names like Dunfanaghy and Ballyboe. We crossed the River Ray and through Falcarragh and Gortahork. In the Republic of Ireland, all of the road signs, street signs, and buildings are in both English and Irish. But in this part of Ireland, everything is just in Irish.

It was cold and windy along the coast. Many of the houses had smoke coming from their chimneys. We saw bags of coal and peat pellets for sale. And while you would think these little places would be closing down for winter, we saw many tour buses stopping at B&B's for the night.

We motored back to our new home base (for one night) in Letterkenny, transferred our footage and ate way too much food again. Now it's off to bed before a busy last three days in Ireland and Northern Ireland.