Fort Dunree and danger of 3rd degree burn...

(Thursday 30.06)
Got up at 07.30, cause I could not sleep. Mostly because the cushion under my back were gone. So I went down, and had a fag, and wrote in my diary.
Then Michael came and said that I had to wake up Synneve, cause we were going to Fort Dunree, for some geocaching. *yey* Fort Dunree

Its always fun to be around Michael!
So he got us tea, which was VERY hot, and the road was very bumpy, so I am lucky that I did not get a 3rd degree burn. And then we found a traffic jam, in the middle of nowhere. À la "Traffic jam in Donegal".
LOADS of sheep in the road, and I was counting how many different colours the sheep were. Some were green, blue, red, black etc. It took a while but it was ok, cause Michael´s car is very comfy!

 

Traffic jam in Donegal

After a while we got to the Fort, and we searched high and low, behind stuff, under, over, inside, in between, but no luck. Kinda frustrating.
So we went to find the other, and on the way we lost Synneve, but we did not find it either. So I think we walked on EVERY road that was near the fort, but no luck, so we headed back, cause Michael was going back to work.

This is THE jacket! Or at least a part of it...

We got back, and Synneve decided to go for a walk on the beach. But first we got some soup. Kinda like lapskaus (stew). After the soup, and a very delicious bread, it was back to the cleaning. (I don't think I have ever cleaned as much as I did these 3 days at Michael´s place.) As Michael said later "I think she was on the verge of wallpapering at 1 stage".
And somewhere between all this, we ended up going out on the field behind the house where Levi started chasing sheep.

 Levi!

 The view from his "backdoor"

Me cracking up...

'

Michael from behind!

And we found this thing, I think its made for keeping clothes-pegs in it, but its still darn cute

I cleaned EVERYWHERE! And I actually enjoyed doing it as well. Then Synneve got home and since we had made different stuff for Michael, we decided to make a geocaching-experience in the house, hiding stuff all over the house. And it was nice doing it too. 
And I kept on moving the flowers around, and then Michael got back, and we had Coleslaw with Pizza and tomatoes. And then he started searching for the things we had placed. One was in the piano, one in his awesome jacket, and one under a cushion. He got so happy and it was fun to see his reactions.

Then we saw a movie and talked a lot, I could not stop thinking about the fact that we were going to leave Michael, Levi and Ballyliffin the next day, so I did not want to sleep.
We saw True Romance (VERY good movie, thanks Michael)
We sat up VERY long, and I felt bad for Michael that was going to get up unbelievably early the next morning.

An excurtion in Derry...

(Wednesday 28.06)

Today I got up at 09.00ish, and decided on what we were going to do. We agreed that Michael could drive us to Derry, since he was going there anyway. So we drove ahead, and I must say, its a total different atmosphere in Michael´s car than in Brian´s car. (BTW, Michael doesn't look like he is a day over 25 years, but in fact is he 35 *wow*. Some guys get more and more handsome as they get older, Michael is defiantly one of those)
It was a nice drive from Ballyliffin to Derry, where he dropped us off, and in "Bogside"
(The Bogside (Irish: Taobh an Bhogaigh) is a neighbourhood outside the city walls of Derry, Northern Ireland. The area has been a focus point for many of the events of The Troubles, from the Battle of the Bogside and Bloody Sunday in the 1960s and 1970s. The large gable-wall murals by The Bogside Artists, Free Derry Corner and the Gasyard Feile (an annual music and arts festival held in a former gasyard) are popular tourist attractions. The Bogside is a majority-Catholic area, and shares a border with the majority-Protestant Fountain neighborhood; this interface area is largely responsible for the Bogside's history of unrest.)

This is where me and Synneve started arguing and we split up. I went back and started looking for an ATM, and after fiddling about for a while I found one, and then another, and another. And then I saw something funny, it was a firm of movers and on their back it stood "I like to move it, move it", and I wanted to take a picture, but I did not manage to do so. I was finished in Derry in 1.5 hour, and I sent a text to Michael, but no reply, tried again, and then tried to call him, no answer, so there were a lot of back and forth and then I decided to meet Synneve at the bus station. And finding the bus to Ballyliffin was easier said than done. So we ended up in Carndonach, and started to walk all the 7 km home. Luckily we go picked up by a nice lady, who knew who Michael was, so she drove us all the way.
We found Michael, and explained everything.

And in Derry I had bought a lot of stuff for the house and Michael. So I kept on cleaning, and dusting and cooking. I even made a apple cake, with a baking tin Michael did not know he had. (And gas cooker are dangerous!). (I think Synneve lost some of her hair on her hand trying to fire up the gas cooker)
And I found a flower vase for the flowers I bought in Derry. I think it took a while before Michael saw the flowers, and I almost "followed" him with them. He got home around 22.00. We drank Guinness, and had a great time and then it was time for dinner. Some weird risotto stuff and something else, and apple cake with cream for dessert. Then wine and movie... I think this was the movie I fell asleep a dozen of times... Hehe
We did not get to bed until 03.30ish, and I fell asleep on the couch.

The homes of Donegal...

(Tuesday 28.06)
I woke up at 07.00, just because Synneve meant we should have LOTS of time to get ready. Everyone got up in a reasonable time, except for Brian. He was sleeping, and neither Rammstein or pan-lids smashed together could get him up.
After a while he DID actually get up, so we jumped into the car, after hugging Hope, and then he drove us "downtown" and Brian let us out of at the bus-station, which turned out to be the wrong one. Luckily we found the right bus-stop and stood there waiting. And waited and waited, and after a while the bus came.
We got on the bus, and drove for 1 hour, and we ended up in Ballyliffin.

This is the place where we met our host. A handsome, young man called Michael. (He reminds me of someone) AND he has a dog *Hurray for that*

Levi

We got inside, and then he disappeared... came back with tea and a map. And then he sat down for a couple of minutes, before he was up and away again. And then he came back, we got a key and he disappeared again. Then we took a look at the house, and realized that there were gas EVERYWHERE. In large containers. You dont feel so safe, when you are not used to havin Butane and Propane all around.

So we decided to go out and explore Ballyliffin. I wanted to find an ATM, and I found quickly out that it was many km to the nearest ATM, so I ended up walking to the patrol station and bought a coke.
And I walked back, and into the shop... and guess who I found there. I found our long lost host, Michael. Weird... So bought some buns and we agreed to meet up later.
So I sat outside in the sunshine and I met Michael´s brother.

I got inside and then Synneve got home... we sat in the living room and talked, and then Michael got there with cake. *Yummy*

And I ended up cleaning and trying to find stuff... Easier said than done. It felt good doing something.
When Michael was finished at work, he picked us up, and we went to "Carndonach" (right?), and on a pub. We sat and talked and since it was a trad-session, Synneve joined in. So me and Michael sat and talked and listened  to the music.

*Difficult to concentrate when you got such a good looking host*
We ended up with drinkin Guinness, and Bulmers (Irish Cider, not the English hogwash), and we got some white wine from the other table, and all this was on an empty stomach. *Wohoo, I felt funny afterwards*
We drove home, and I fell asleep on the couch, which was 40 cm to short for me...

"I suppose sheep are heavier when wet"

(Monday 27.06)
I woke up at 09.00. Synneve was taking photos, and her camera were noisy. And my stomach were killin´ me. I had a bad stomach, and running to the toilet, while I was dizzy. This was because of the staircase down to the living room. I ended up drinking Coca Cola, and listening to highland radio.  I think Synneve went back to bed. While I was listening to the radio I heard a familiar song "We started the voyage, it was just you and me". I was so happy to hear this song.

After a while I got bored, and went for a walk. A pretty long walk actually. And I found the horses I saw yesterday and some sheep. I took some photos of them.
I went back, and the others were now sitting in the kitchen, talking. And since there were no bread in the house, we had rice, and eggs for breakfast. This was the day when Sam was leaving, so there were a lot of hugs and Brian, Hope, Synneve and me went on an expedition.
So we drove away, and ended up in a nice, little place. Brian went for a run, and Hope, Synneve and me went down to the beach to watch the shells and snail-houses. It was nice!

After a while Hope and me got hungry, so we tried to find a shop that sold food. It took a while before we found a sign with an arrow that said "Supermarket, this way". So we started walking in the direction, and after a bit of fiddling about in the streets, we found a shop, and I bought some french pastries.
Then we walked back to the car, and found Synneve, but Brian was nowhere to be seen. And he could not have drove away, cause we had the car keys.

 

Brians lizzard

Then we drove back to the house, and I went to bed, and the others made dinner. I fell asleep, and when I got up, I was feeling so sick that I did not want to eat. So I just laid there.
After a while I got down, ate 3 sausages and some meat.
We did also some laundry, and we ended up drinking beer and playing music.
Brian said that I was the worst "Orange" player ever, but I was better on the cajun drum. That was fun.

Tomorrow we are going to Ballyliffin. *YEY*

We found the craic!

(Sunday 26.06)
Sunday, the holy Sunday. I was woken up by that Synneve was lying on my side of the inflatable mattress, so I decided to push her off it, and I got the whole mattress to myself. I slept for about 1 hour longer, and then I was so hungry, that I HAD to get up. Brian made us Irish-breakfast, and Frank, Aimée and Elie left. The nice people.

Then we just ended sitting there, waiting for any excellent suggestions, Brian was waiting for a call from the couch surfer that was coming today, and me, Sam and Synneve ended writing in our diaries.

It ended with that Sam, Synneve and me went on a car-trip. We drove all around Donegal, and got lost a few times, saw a lot of nice nature and nice views. We saw also Fort Dunree (I will tell more of that later, when we are at Michael´s place).

 

Sam

 

This is Fort Dunree
(Fort Dunree (Irish: An Dún Riabhach), located on the west side of the Inishowen peninsula in the north of Ireland, is a Napoleonic period fort. The fort is located on a rocky promontory accessed over a natural fissure. It was remodelled in 1895 to have 2 x 4.7 inch (119 mm) QF guns below, and later 12 pounder (5 kg) QF and 2 x 6 inch (152 mm) guns in a battery above. The top of a hill overlooking the site was walled in to form a redoubt.)

And we got back, and then we drove to the shop, and bought Coca Cola, beer and dinner.
Brian and Sam took my cider so I had to drink beer. Ok, enough. I went out to see the environment, and I found a nice sunset.

Then Brian left to get Hope (the couch-surfer I was talking about). And for the night we were called Faith, Love and Justice. :P
Hope was a sweet girl, that played the Ukulele.
And the CRAIC was found!

 

Sam

 

Hope

 

Synneve with tea

We ended up smoking and drinking tea from Alaska. THAT was fun! :D
I haven't had that much fun in ages.
And we did not go to bed before the time was 04.30ish, and it was almost light outside.
Since we slept upstairs, we had to go UP the stairs, which was easier said than done.

Oh god my stomach ached SO much, and I saw green and red dots in the ceiling.

Hope is sweet!

10 hour long busdrive with crazy busdriver

(Saturday 25.06)
I woke up unbelievably early, cause the girls in the beds above us, were leaving for an airplane. This was like 05.30, and because of them, and my squeaky bed, I did not get more sleep. So I just laid there and waited... and waited. I was awfully hungry as well, and the breakfast were not before 07.00.
When the clock was 06.55, and almost ran down to the breakfast. I was all alone there...
Since I was finished packing yesterday, I could relax, and eat properly. And then I went up again, to fetch Synneve. I got her up, and we went down again, this time with luggage, and I ended up looking at Synneve eating breakfast.
We found a handsome man to look at, and everything was nice.
At about 09.30 did I leave the hostel. And GOD how much time Synneve used to get out. I waited, and waited...

Then we walked to the bus-station, and found the bus.
We knew this would be a long bus drive.

The first bus drove to Galway, were we ended up eating lunch. The next bus was going to Derry, but in Sligo we had to change bus-driver. And this is the craziest bus-driver I have EVER met.

The bus, which normally GETS overtaken, was now the one that was overtaking other cars. It felt like we flew over the hills, and Synneve looked anxiously on me, and I ended up finding my own seat. I sat alone for quite a while, until this group of young people entered the bus. They came on the bus in Donegal, and they were going to Derry. And right next to me, this handsome, young man sat down, and he fell asleep. We had to fasten the seat belt, so that he didn't fall into the gangway.
And NO, he did NOT wake up when I was getting off the bus, so I had to climb OVER him, and he did not wake up by that either.

We were now in Letterkenny, and Brian (our host) was waiting for us. In his car were also another couch surfer, this was Sam(ira). She was from Switzerland. When we got to Brian's house, were there 3 other couch surfers. Frank from Germany and Aimée* and Elie* (not sure how they write their names).
We had a great time, with loads of singing, drinking and smoking. Fabulous people!
We ate great food that Sam made, and we did not get to bed before 03.30. At that time I had been awake for 21 hours, so I was knackered.

I slept on an inflatable mattress, with Synneve. I fell to sleep almost right away.