FOR YEARS the county was ignored by tourism chiefs – now our spin-doctors have even managed to get the county some great publicity…on the other side of the world.
Failte Ireland brought a writer all the way to Donegal from New Zealand.
And a feature in today’s edition of the country’s biggest newspaper says our county is just fantastic!
Travel writer Peter Calder will have Kiwis packing their bags for holidays here after a rave review.
And he even managed to make our weather at Malin Head in November sound appealing.
Calder writes today: “In Ireland, you always take the weather with you. But don’t worry if you forget; you may be sure it will come along anyway.
“It pitches in off the Atlantic in slabs and heaps and droves and gusts. Brewed somewhere around Iceland, it is poured on to the coast of Donegal, in the island’s northwestern corner.
“In Donegal in November, I drove through landscapes in which low cloud merged with smoke from hearth fires. The grey-white sky lent an eerily beautiful light to the day, making it hard to tell the difference between early morning and late afternoon.
“It was early afternoon, though, as I followed the winding road to Malin Head, the island’s northernmost point. The weather forecast on the radio as I drove spoke of the barometer “dropping fast” and “cyclonic conditions”. The phrase “gale force 9” kept recurring.
“When I stepped out of the car the wind almost tore the door off. A handful of other people, parka hoods up, hands thrust in pockets, braved the conditions and we exchanged sheepish “what the hell are we doing here?” looks as our cheeks burned with the cold. It was magnificent.”
The top journalist goes on: “In Ireland, of course, “bad” weather is good weather for the visitor. The mountains – we’d call them hills, really – and the craggy coast; the dizzy cliffs of Slieve League, peppered with puffins keeping an eye out for fish in the water below, the deep Loughs (lakes) Swilly and Foyle (actually a fjord and an estuary respectively), the sea-raked rocks of the wild coast, are all at their best when the wind and rain fret and pick at their edges.”
The journalist is full of praise for Glenveagh National Park the legendary tweed in Magee’s in Donegal Town.
And he bought a tweed coat from Eddie Doherty in Ardara!
You can real the full story by clicking the link below:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/travel/news/article.cfm?c_id=7&objectid=10718539
