"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.

We found what Lewis and Clark could not

Today we were off for a two-hour drive to the northwestern township of Letterkenny across the border in the Republic of Ireland. On the way there, we found the Northwest Passage that eluded Lewis and Clark. I can't imagine they missed the sign along the motorway. I wish we could have stopped for a picture.

Also along the way we passed the Ulster American Folk Center. John checked out our guide book to see what they had there. They have a replica ship that the immigrants took to the new world, a homesteader shack and even Civil War reenactors. Too bad we couldn't stop.

As I said, this was our first time to cross the border into Ireland. There's no visible crossing or passport requirement. There's only a sign that says the speed limit will now be shown in kilometers per hour rather than miles per hour. Of course, there's a new currency as well, euros rather than English pounds. And all of the signs are bi-lingual in English and Irish.

Letterkenny (picture at top left is of downtown) is a pretty town that's really expanded in the past few years. The town, not yet a city, sits along the River Swilly. It's a beautiful valley but it's only 45 minutes to the northwest coast and not far from where Northern Ireland will be staging a surfing event at the end of the month. Surf Ireland--who knew?

You have to call Letterkenny a town not a city. To achieve city status, a town must have a cathedral (which they have) and a university (which they do not have but are trying to start). We were there to meet up with the first of our former Missoula visitors Sean Barr.

Sean (shown to the left) was the oldest of the students at 23. He was taking classes at Ulster University and was living in Belfast. After coming to Missoula, Sean worked at some jobs in Belfast and before finishing his degree in Media Communications. He moved to Letterkenny and started his own video production companies. For Killer Snail Productions, Sean produced videos of music festivals and community events. Lady Bird Productions was his wedding video business. But with the recession, the money for productions has dried up a bit, he said.

So now at age 36, Sean is producing fine art. He works in water colors and acrylics. He has some very haunting images almost out of a zombie movie as well as street scenes of places such as Galway and an amazing portrait of Sitting Bull that was inspired by the book Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. Sean's first ever exhibition will be held in Letterkenny on October 21st. We'll be there with our cameras as he finishes his work, the framing, the hanging and finally the opening.

On our drive back, we decided to go through Derry or Londonderry depending upon your political leanings. We haven't notices much vandalism or spray paint tagging on any of the road signs except for the signs that say Londonderry. In some areas, the London part has been blacked out. In other areas, the Derry part is covered. And in some places, both sides have done their part to cover up the entire city name.

I told you that there had been a car bombing in Derry. John thought it might be a good video to capture. So we went in search of the site. The bomb and car were parked behind a branch of the Ulster Bank. It blew out most of the windows and left a part of the wall blackened. A thick fence behind the bank was just twisted metal. And the Ulster Bank sign was mostly smashed. The bank was closed, and the road had just opened today. It was kind of eerie to be there taking pictures of the place.

Aside from the recent bombing and the 1972 incident that was named Bloody Sunday, Derry is a beautiful city. It's called the Walled City because of a mile long stone and brick wall that was built in the 1600's. The wall (that's me on the wall in the picture to the left), located on the banks of the River Foyle, surrounds some of the higher end shops, pubs and restaurants. Also inside the walls is St. Columba Cathedral which was the inspiration for the hymn Amazing Grace. We had dinner at a pub within the walls (Shouldn't Irish stew just be called stew over here?) before driving two hours back to Hillsborough. Tomorrow we travel south for the first time to Dundalk, Ireland.

Interesting Finding

There was an interesting article in The Guardian, a daily newspaper from Britain. It says a survey conducted by the University of Liverpool shows there's support for republican terrorist groups in Northern Ireland. Click here to read the article.

Londonderry (or just Derry) suffered a car bombing on Monday. We'll be passing through Derry tomorrow.