We drove into a remote area called the Sperrin Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty today in search of the Sperrin Scultpure Trail. Three giant statues created by world-acclaimed artist, Thomas Dambo, represent the past, present and future.
Nowanois is called Giant of the Sperrins. He is the Seanchai or storyteller, recalling good times and generations gone by.
Darach, the Mullaghcarn Giant, is the guardian who watches over the present. It was a moderately steep hike up to the summit from the Gortin Glen Forest Park.
Ceoldan is the stargazer who looks to the future and the unknown.
The rain held off just long enough for us to take a quick walk around Gortin Glen Forest Park.
Later in the afternoon we took a quick walking tour of Derry, nicknamed The Walled City. The Derry City Walls define the old town quarter at the heart of the modern city.
The walled part of the city is a mostly intact 17th C enclosure with 7 gates and 24 restored cannons.
Free Derry Corner or Bogside, sits just outside of the city walls. The gable wall stating ‘you are now entering Free Derry” commemorates Derry’s time as an autonomous nationalist area from 1969 – 1972.
Bloody Sunday or the Bogside Massacre was an incident on January 30, 1972 where British soldiers shot 28 unarmed civilians and killed 14 during a peaceful protest march against internment (imprisonment without trial) of 342 people suspected of being involved with the IRA (Irish Republican Army) during the Troubles. The IRA was waging a campaign for a united Ireland against the British state. Bloody Sunday increased Catholic and Irish nationalism toward the British
There are lots of political murals in this part of Derry.
And on on a lighter note, the Derry Girls mural.
Dinner was at the Embankment Pub, offering an odd assortment of American, Asian and traditional Irish options.
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