Page 347 - Lonely Planet Europe’s Best Trips (Travel Guide)

trail meanders up a sand
ladder, through huge
dunes and past marram TOP TIP:
grass and occasional THE BORDER
orchids.
Driving 20 minutes north out of Derry will see you
4 p351 entering another country: the Republic of Ireland.
Be aware that road sign speed limits will suddenly
The Drive » Take the A2 west,
through Coleraine towards change from mph to km/h, while wording switches
Downhill. About 1km after the from English to Irish and English. Stock up on euros
Mussenden Temple’s dome in Derry or visit the first post-border ATM.
appears, take the Bishop’s
Rd left up steep hills with IRELAND
spectacular Lough Foyle views.
Descend, go through Limavady 7 Derry historical themes: the
and onto the B68 (signed poverty that led to mass
Dungiven). Soon a brown Northern Ireland’s migration and the con-
Country Park sign points to Roe second city offers another
Valley (42km). powerful insight into sequences of sectarian
the North’s troubled violence. One gravestone
past and the remarkable among many is that of
6 Roe Valley steps towards peace. the McKinney family,
This beguiling coun- It’s best experienced on recording a string of
children dying young: at
try park (h9am-dusk) foot. Drop into the Tower 13 years, 11 months, nine
Ireland’s most significant 25 THE NORTH IN A NuTSHELL
is packed with rich Museum (www.derrycity.gov. months, and six weeks.
reminders of a key Irish uk/museums; Union Hall Pl; It also bears the name
industry: linen produc- adult/child £4/2; h10am- of 34-year-old James
tion. The damp valley 5.30pm). Its imaginative Gerard McKinney, one
was ideal for growing the Story of Derry exhibition of 13 unarmed civilians
flax that made the cloth; leads you through the shot dead when British
the fast-flowing water city’s history, from the troops opened fire on
powered the machinery. 6th-century monastery demonstrators on Bloody
The Green Lane Museum of St Colmcille (Columba) Sunday, 1972.
(h1-4.30pm Sat-Thu May-Aug, to the 1960s Battle of the
Sat & Sun Sep), near the car Bogside. The Drive » Rejoin the R238
park, features sowing 54 p351 north, turning onto the R240 to
fiddles, flax breakers and Carndonagh, climbing steeply
spinning wheels. Look The Drive » The A2 heads into rounded summits. After
quaint Ballyliffin and Clonmany,
out for nearby watchtow- north towards Moville. Soon pick up the Inis Eoghain (Scenic
ers, built to guard linen speed-limit signs switch from Route) towards Mamore’s Gap,
spread out to bleach in mph to km/h: welcome to the before parking at the Glen
Republic of Ireland. Shortly after
the fields, and Scutch Muff take the small left turn, House Tea Rooms (40km).
Mills, where the flax was signed Iskaheen, up the hill. Park
pounded. beside Iskaheen church (11km).
The Drive » Head back into 9 Glenevin
Limavady to take the A2 west Waterfall
to Derry (28km). Green fields 8 Iskaheen Welcome to Butler’s
give way to suburbs, then city It’s completely off the Bridge – from here a
streets. tourist trail, but Iskaheen 1km trail winds beside
church’s tiny graveyard a stream through a
offers evidence of two of wooded glen to Glenevin

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