The Inishowen Peninsula, Visions of Malin Head were deflated

We're starting our first day a little groggy but still excited. Our goal today is to do what is called the Inishowen 100. It's a 100 mile trip around the Inishowen peninsula. We're in the northern part of the Republic of Ireland but west of Northern Ireland staying in Letterkenny. 

The night before, after our arrival, we got a chance to catch our first pint of Guinness. The Guinness here is not like in the states. None of the dark beer heaviness, but just creamy and smooth. 

Our first stop was Grenan of Aileach. A fortress of sorts that is built on a 281 meter hilltop with 380 degree views. It is built with stones only, no mortar. Built in the sixth or seventh century AD.  The walls are about 15 meters thick and  5 meters high and probably 30 meters across. Just a round structure but fascinating to think about humans there before us and how they lived. 

All over the Irish coast there are forts and military defense facilities. We stopped at Ft Dunree. Built out on an island with a 10 foot gap between the island and mainland. The gap had a drawbridge with a drop of several hundred feet. It's now a museum. It served as a guard post for the Donegal area. The Atlantic just north of this point is known for hundreds of ship wrecks.

As we travelled on, headed to Malin Head or the northernmost point of the Republic of Ireland, we noticed the an indicator that our tire pressure was low in one of the tires. We stopped to check it and found it to be flat. No problem, we'd just change to the spare and go on. Turns out our little Renault has no spare, only a can of sealant to fill load into the tire to hopefully stop the leak. After much study, we figured out how it works and got back to the nearest town to get the issue resolved. We were in Malin and it was getting dark so we had to forego the Malin Head but we managed to get back to Letterkenny and a good night's sleep. Our first day was both challenging and fun.

A waterfall along the way, our view from Knockamany viewpoint where we discovered our flat, and Malcolm working the little pump that worked magic on our tire.

Now onward we go to see more of Ireland.

The word of the day is Challenges.  Not only did we deal with the flat, but my first time in years driving on the "wrong" side of the road. This was particularly difficult to wrap my head around at night as the lights passed me on the right. But we made it.