Information about my Irish ancestors is thin on the ground. Little is known about the ones from Donegal but even that is far superior to that known about those further south in Ireland to the extent that I only went to Donegal. My great grandmother named her house in Sydney Bunbeg and there was a suggestion that she was born in Bunbeg, Ireland. Her father was known to rent land near Bunbeg.
I booked into a B & B called Bunbeg House right on Bunbeg Harbour. Before I could arrive there I had to fly to Belfast. The scenery from the bus from the airport was interesting. Some lovely green fields with hedgerows some of which included white fluffy sheep. Some of the houses near the airport looked like the typical kids drawing of a house with door, 2 windows and a chimney. A couple were like that but of 2 stories. It was unusual as Irish houses are not usually of that design. I had several hours to kill, a good deal of which I spent being lost in Belfast despite having a small scale paper map from the tourism office and digital maps. I’m not known for my sense of direction but have always manged to navigate my way around foreign cities with minimal trouble so I’m not sure what the problem was. Fortunately I didn’t have the same issue on the return trip.
The bus to Bunbeg departed with 4 passengers right at peak hour and headed west. Technical problems with a camera and fading light ensured there were no photos of the houses, sheep or anything. It was a 3+ hour trip only stopping to drop off or to pick up a few passengers in Donegal. We were wilds of Donegal when the driver said we’d be transferring to a car for the remainder of the journey whereupon we left the main 2 lane highway and headed along unmarked roads for about 10 minutes to meet the car. The passengers, myself and a man who’d been
asleep in the back, set off in a very comfortable car. When the driver realised where I was staying he drove me down to the B&B which I was very grateful for as it was a long, dark, hilly road from the bus stop to the harbour. The owner and her small grandson made me welcome and settled me into a room overlooking the harbour. I was the only visitor that night in a converted corn barn.
Bunbeg House
The next morning, the owner after discovering my reason for visiting, that I had no transport and seeing that I was far from nimble on the stairs suggested that I might be better off staying at another B&B closer to civilization and said that she could arrange it with a friend. She also offered to drive me there. I went off to do some research and to investigate the harbour.
The car park was also a dry dock for boats
Looking down the harbour
Two large converted buildings on the harbour
Harbour
Boats in the water
More boats
A few men were working on a number of the boats throughout the day
Looking down the harbour
I liked the colour and texture of the rock face
I decided to walk from the harbour to the main road. This house was close to the harbour with the B&B beside it
A bit further along the road and looking towards the harbour
Along the way
I couldn’t actually see the sea from where I was standing but when you cut the mass of blackberry and other weeds away from the original photo this is whats left
Some green grass and Mt Erigal
Thickets of blackberry and scrub
The main road with the crossroads and Bunbeg shops to the left. I took some photos of them some days later but they didn’t survive