The time has come for me to go
And bid you all adieu
For the open highway calls me back
To do these things I do.
But when I'm traveling far away
Your friends I'll recall
The Homes of Donegal.
Donegal, Pride of All
--(Sean MacBride)
KILCAR, Co. Donegal -- The tide is rolling steadily into Tawny Bay towards Kilcar Town as the rain falls softly down for the first time on my current rambles in Ireland.
Alongside a warm comfortable fire burning in the holiday home of friends Patricia and Jim Flynn, access to wireless Internet affords me the opportunity to pen some lines about the first visit to Donegal in a score of years. It is only a flying visit for the weekend, but anytime spent in such a beautiful part of the world is memorable, especially when you can take in some traditional music and dancing along the way and reconnect with old friends and meet new ones which is so easy to do in Ireland.
Twilight was ebbing last Friday night as I drove across the Derryveagh Mountains on a winding country road leading to the sandy shores of Gweedore. There was enough light remaining to make out the majestic form of Mount Errigal in Glenveigh National Park in the distance, one of the most distinguishable summits among the spectacular hills of Donegal.
The first stop in my Destination Donegal tour would be Bunbeg and the famous house for music, Hudi Beag’s Tavern, brought to greater recognition by Altan, the traditional music group that helped raise the profile of the unique Donegal music style a number of years ago.
Fridays and Mondays would be nights where tunes are shared and arrangements are made to meet up with Ciaran O’Maonaigh and Caitlinn Nic Gabhann (visiting from Co. Meath before she headed back to her studies in Cork). We were also joined by Ciaran’s father Gearoid O’Maonaigh who plays guitar. and a piper from Belfast, Conor Tay.
Ciaran O’Maonaigh is one of those extraordinary young musicians carrying on the musical heritage of Donegal who was recognized back in 2003 as a comer by TG4, which named the fiddler the Young Musician of the Year.
The following year he produced a fabulous CD, “Music of the Glen,” that also featured Dermot McLaughlin and John Blake, that highlighted the music of this region which has been further enhanced by his latest recording with two other Donegal musicians, Aidan O’Donnell and Damien McGeehan, as a fiddle trio called Fidil.
Caitlinn is the youngest daughter of Cavan fiddle master Antoin MacGabhann who plays the concertina, and a part of the very vibrant Co. Meath music scene.
Hudi Beag’s was relatively quiet this night in terms of a crowd, but the music was sublime and intense and well worth making the journey all the way from Dublin that day. Quiet tunes in pubs like this are really to be treasured, because in noisier or more touristy timeframes, one wouldn’t have the pleasure of hearing the music with such clarity and beauty.
There are even accommodation above the tavern which was an added bonus when the musicians stopped playing and a few Gaelgoieri singers native to the area capped the evening. No driving home to a bed that night.
Bidding adieu the next day to Bunbeg, I took the meandering and undulating road down through Dungloe towards Glenties where a set dancing weekend was in full swing.
Dancing masters for the weekend were Padraig and Roisin McEneaney from Co. Louth, who are frequently in demand in the U.S. as teachers (next month in Rohobeth, Delaware for the annual Connie Ryan memorial weekend).
At only the second Glenties set dancing weekend at the Highlands Hotel, there were 15 sets mustered on the fine timber floor in the large function room. Appropriately enough, Padraig and Roisin taught a local Donegal set, the Fintown Set, coincidentally the homeplace for Jimmy McGlynn who along with his wife Kathleen were giving sean nos step lessons with their daughter.
After a lovely supper in nearby Ardara at the Nesbitt with the McEneaneys and Sligo set dancer Mary Conboy, we headed back to Glenties for the Saturday night ceili that drew around 20 enthusiastic sets on the floor to the lovely fluid music of the Copperplate Ceili Band from Co. Tyrone.
An cupan tae, sandwiches and cakes were given out at the break, adding to the cead mile failte that the Glenties community organized.
Brooklyn step dancer Eileen Golden, who moved to Ardara five years ago, turned up with some promotional flyers for the Johnny Doherty music and dancing festival in Ardara this coming weekend that will feature her old mates in Cherish the Ladies, where she was a founding member.
Along with Cherish the Ladies will be Zoe Conway and Fidil in concert at the Beehive Bar, adding to the buzz in yet another scenic seaside town in Donegal. Ardara native Pat McGill, the local Comhaltas chair who worked in New York for a number of years, started up this festival to lengthen the summer season and bring a bit of business to the area and to show off the Beehive Bar as a house for traditional music.
I slipped away from the Highland Hotel ceili in time to catch some quiet tunes by fiddler Vincent Campbell down a narrow country lane towards Ballbofey to small pub called the Glen Tavern.
The Campbells (brothers Jimmy and Vincent and Jimmy’s son Peter) would often be playing there, though Vincent was the only one there this night. He played a number of Coleman tunes, including his own distinctive version of the “Cuckoo” which was worth the journey alone.
On the first weekend in October the Glenties Fiddle Festival will be taking place, and you can be sure that many will make their way out to this locale. Vincent showed great patience and encouragement to two fledgling fidders who turned up this night and who relished the opportunity to play with a master who grew up nearby in Glenties.
The Glen Tavern would be one of those places well off the beaten path that abound in Ireland where the hidden treasures may not be on top of the Tourist Board suggestions.
Sunday would be a day for some sightseeing and a relaxing drive down the rugged coastline between Ardara and Killybegs, including the Irish language redoubt of Glencolumncille.
The skies were grey but dry, and the drive enjoyable and timed to land into Kilcar in time to meet up with the Flynns and view the All-Ireland football final between rivals Cork and Kerry.
After Kerry’s victory, we took advantage of the clear skies and headed up to the cliffs beyond Teelin, offering one of the highest vantage points in Western Europe looking out at the sea. It claims to best the Cliffs of Moher, where my people come from in County Clare.
Measurements notwithstanding, the view was truly magnificent whether you looked over the rocky coastline or out into the Atlantic and south to Mayo across Donegal Bay.
A sumptuous supper awaited us at Noel Cunningham’s Killybegs hostelry named Kitty Kelly’s Restaurant (where have I heard that name before, I wonder?) The owner operates the gourmet restaurant seasonally, and this was the next to last weekend it was opened until Easter.
In a conversation with Cunningham, we discovered he was the nephew of the late Willie Joe Cunningham, a Donegal stalwart for so many years in New York. This was another place well worth going out of the way for, and another reason to put Donegal on the list of places you must visit in Ireland during your lifetime.
Soon the bags will be stored once again in the boot of the car as the traveling resumes after a genial respite in the one of those homes in Donegal worth visiting, built on the friendship that Irish music brings no matter what separation geography imposes.
I hope it won’t be so long again before I return to Donegal, but based on this past weekend there appears to be even more reasons to find a way to come back and enjoy the best that Ireland has to offer in this beautiful county.
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