Ireland - Day13 (Tuesday 4/11/2006)

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Looks a bit rainy today. Not too bad, though. Seems most of the rains have gone. Today I’m driving north from Sligo, then south east along the shore of Lough Erne (a big lake), and then north again into the walled town of Londonderry, or Derry (depending on who you talk to).

And just like that I left the Republic of Ireland behind me and was in Northern Ireland. There were no walls, no checkpoints, not even a “Welcome to Northern Ireland” sign that I recall, nothing that I might have imagined would be there to denote the change. Unless you noticed the slight change in gas prices listed at the stations, you’re best chance would be to notice the signs now list distances in miles and miles per hour, not kilometers and kilometers per hour. Try doing 30 k.p.h. through town. Heh. You might then notice if you go to buy things that the currency is no in Pounds Sterling, not the Euro, though you might not; many of the places take the Euro as well. So your best bet is to head into a pub and have a look at the beers they have. Sure, Guinness is still there, but you’ll see Harp now as well, and Bulmer’s Cider is replaced with Magner’s Cider, though I think they must be the same manufacturer b/c the bottle is too similar to be coincidence (or not be some form of infringement). But, regardless, I was in Northern Ireland.

Londonderry, or Derry as I believe the anti-British would prefer it, is this town, once again on the water, that has a portion of the town ensconced within an old wall. It was fun to walk around the town, atop the wall, enjoying the views.

Once that was done it was another relaxing evening spent planning my tomorrow and reading. That was followed by, you guessed it, television and bed.