We traveled our furthest distance today by bus and train from Galway in Ireland to Portrush in Northern Ireland.

We made a stop in for a few hours in Donegal Ireland. Joan had Irish ancestors in her Long & Lewis branch, had immigrated from Donegal in the 1700’s. She met a Donegal local while we had tea that just happened to be a Historian! When she mentioned the names, he responded that they would have been Protestant's or the people England favored over the Irish after conquering them. He wasn’t quite as friendly at that point!

We visited Donegal Castle and did a short walk about town before catching the next bus to Derry as the Irish call it, or London Derry if you are Protestant or English. We have begun feeling the long standing tensions between the Irish Catholic’s and Protestant Northern Ireland populations.

In Derry/London Derry we crossed into Northern Ireland and switched from Bus to Train to take us to Portrush on the Northern most coast of Northern Ireland. We will spend part of the next day hiking the Giants Causeway near Portrush, then onto Belfast.