REAL Ireland weather is in full force again today – downright wintery. Sipping café con leche in the dinning hall of the hostel I contemplated how to get to the cliffs of the Sliabh peninsula on this miserable day without a car or taking a local tour. The with a bit of Irish luck I met a lovely French couple from a small town near Montreal. They had a car and invited me to drive to the Sliabh Liag peninsula with them.

I’ll just let the day unwind and go along for the ride. And what a grand day it turned out to be as they had that wandering, inquisitive spirit to explore all the less traveled niches and crannies along the way – no guide needed.

We perused Killybegs, a lively fishing town with Ireland’s largest fleet of trawlers, where local and foreign ships tower over the quay.

Stopping at Kilcar we got a personal tour by one of the loomers of the Donegal Tweeds and Woolens facility in this picturesque little town.

Then there are the breathtaking Blue Flag beaches around every hairpin curve – oh if only the weather would have been more accommodating!

And blooming flowers everywhere…

Wooly, grazing sheep in heather pastures.

And finally the narrow, twisting road rises steeply to the crem-de-la-crème of this area – the cliffs of Sliabh Liag, the highest marine cliffs in Europe, rising over 600m above the ocean (Just as dramatic and stunning as the Cliffs of Moher, only more remote and less visited).

It was a don’t-take-off-that-raincoat and a hang-on-to-our-hat kind of day.

There is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow (must be Irish too!).

Many thanks to Francine and Ansulmo for a bright, enlightening day spent with new friends met along the way.

Now – Ca bhfuil an teach tabhairne? Local Irish Gaeltacht for “Where’s the pub”?