38 



GWEEDORE, CO. DONEGAL. 



It is ix far cry from London to Gweedore, the " ultima 

 thnle " of the wandering angler, and I undertook it with 

 many grave misgivings. To begin ^\'ith, my chum was a 

 bad sailor, and he stipulated that we should travel via Stran- 

 raer and Larne, involving twelve mortal hours in the train 

 from Euston station. We travelled on a Friday, and the 

 proverbial bad luck of that daj attended us from start to 

 finish. The engine broke an axle at three o'clock in the 

 morning, as we were approaching Carlisle, and the result 

 was six hours' delay ! When, finally, we reached Belfast on 

 Saturday evening, the last tiain to Londonderry had gone, 

 and there were no Sunday trains on the line from 'Derry to 

 Letterkenny, which was to be our first halting place. The 

 Belfast station-master cancelled our circular tourists' 

 tickets, returned us our money, and sent us round by way 

 of Dundalk to Strabane. We arrived there at dusk, and, 

 hiring an outside car, started on a thirty mile drive to 

 Letterkenney, where we arrived close on midnight. To say 

 that we were worn out and weary, would not do justice to 

 our condition — we were worse than that. Miss Haggerty 

 was a mother to us, and her pretty little hotel furnished 

 forth its best for our comfort and consolation, late as it was. 

 I shall always cherish pleasant memories of this kind lady, 

 and the solicitude which she showed towards us. Nothing 

 more home-like and comfortable have I ever met with — 

 and I have travelled round the whole world. Letter- 

 kenney is situated at the upper end of Lough Swilly, and 

 there good fishing abounds in this locality ; but we had 

 made up our minds to "do" Donegal, and my chum was 

 deaf to all suggestions that we should break our journey 

 and explore the angling resources of Letterkenney. And 

 thus it happened that, after an early breakfast, we started 



