One of the gems of traveling is the unexpected, especially when it involves people delighting you in unexpected ways. Today, after a later start, we headed west to the edge of Donegal, to the tiny town of Malinbeg. Malinbeg is home to the Silver Strand, an amazing beach towered over by hills on three sides. We took the stairs down to the beach, where there was a group of late-teens playing some kind of ball game. As we approached, it became obvious that these very Irish kids were playing American baseball. With a tennis ball. And a cricket bat. And their diamond looked more like a trapezoid. And at the end of an inning, one team declared that it had “four points.” And they were having a great time playing, and we loved watching them and listening to them more or less get the rules mostly right. What a wonderful moment.

The beach was great too. We walked the length of it, and we marveled at how the sheep were grazing on what to us appeared to be impossible angles on the sides of hills. The sun was warm when it came out from behind the clouds, and there was a steady, easy breeze. We loved it — what an amazing spot in which to be. It was recommended to us by an Irishman we met fourteen years ago, and I still had his e-mail. He was kind enough to send a reply, and strongly recommended Malinbeg, where he was born. I am deeply grateful that he told us to go there.

After we made the long climb back up the stairs, we headed over to the nearby town of Glencolmcille. We had been in Glencolmcille briefly fourteen years ago, but had only seen a little of the place. This time we stopped at the local folk village, a small museum of seven houses that showed how Irish houses looked in the eighteenth century, from around 1850, and from the early twentieth century. All the houses had thatched roofs, but the later they got, the bigger they got. Some of the same things popped up that we saw in the Muckross Farm houses on Thursday, such as the children sleeping inside a bed/bench in the main room of the two-room house. We also learned about Father McDyers, who was a local priest who encouraged the town to build the folk museum as a way to encourage tourism and help make local jobs. He also pushed to get the town electricity and running water in the 1950s. He seemed like a very good man.

We ate a quick lunch at the folk museum tea room, and then we tried to drive into the valley to find a cool-looking church we could see from a distance, but we took a wrong turn and were guided by signs toward St. Colmcille’s chapel, which took us down a very narrow road that dead-ended at a house at the foot of a large hill. I had remembered that hill from our last visit because we had tried to climb it, but realized we were running out of daylight. This time, I just turned the car around, and we found the church we were seeking, which was a small, pretty Church of Ireland church, surrounded by an old, but still-in-use, graveyard. The church was also only about fifty yards from a carved standing stone that looked to be pre-Christian.

After Glencolmcille, we drove over to a sight recommended to us by our friend Jenny and her husband Dan — the cliffs called Slieve Leauge. The locals claim they are the tallest sea cliffs in Europe, but that is debated (Wikipedia has them listed at sixth place). Regardless, they are tall, at 601 meters (1970 feet). They’re easy to get to, depending on how much walking you want to do. We parked at the first parking lot, which leaves about a twenty-minute walk. You can drive up to the viewing area and save the walk, but the road is narrow in many places, and there are many hikers about. Plus, it is a beautiful walk.

The cliffs are very dramatic. They also stretch on for a long time, jutting out into the sea. You can actually climb up to the top of them, and walk along the spine of the cliffs (which fall away on both sides in some places) on a trail called One Man’s Path. Needless to say, with my fear of heights, I did not attempt that. I did marvel at the tiny silhouettes of the people walking up on the edge. We stayed on the safe observation platform, and then climbed as high as the protective fence went. There, I turned around and went back to a bench to sit. Mer went a little bit higher and found a rock on which to sit and contemplate the cliffs.

After the return trip to the car, it was about 6:00. So, we drove the scenic ocean road back to near Killybegs, and from there took the major road back to Donegal. We dropped the car off at the B and B, and walked to town, where we ate at an Italian restaurant. We grabbed a couple of pastries from a shop, and ate them sitting next to the water back at the B and B, while we lavished attention on one of the outdoor rescue kitties that live around the B and B. By then, it was time to get ready for bed.