Day 10: Derry - Ballygully Bay
By now all of the men are infected with Peter's bug & one admitted to hospital in Derry. A couple of the women have a lesser version. Peter is certainly sitting on the bus each day but extremely unwell despite 5 days of antibiotics. He is sleeping most of the time he's not coughing so actually not seeing much of Ireland.
We boarded the coach early this morning and were educated on the bloody history of Northern Ireland by a highly qualified Buddhist tour guide who was delightfully objective about the years of pointless conflict. There was no personal bias on the commentary despite his Irish heritage. See FB photos for a couple of outstanding new architectural features of the rebuild.
The next tourist stop was to explore the Giant's Causeway. Many warnings to take care in the soft (wet) Irish weather that typifies our tour. There is a magnificent new tourist centre erected now so that provided a comfortable refuge.
The drive down the scenic Antrim Coast would have revealed breath-taking beauty I'm sure if we could have seen it.
Our accommodation tonight is in the Bally gully Castle which dates from 1625, complete with the resident ghost of the wife of Lord Shaw who threw her from the top turret once she had produced his heir. I'll report on that in the morning. I am hoping to put some photos of the castle on FB if the weather clears in the morning.