Derry; Sunday, 26 July, 2009

After another stunning breakfast it was time to checkout and head down for the bus. The hotels credit card machine was on the blink so I was going to have to trudge into town get some cash out of an ATM head back and then go back in for the bus, until the owner offered to give me a lift down to the bus station and an ATM, saving the multiple trips backwards and forwards, and also avoiding the hefty walk down hill with heavy luggage.

It also gave me the opportunity to find out quite how quiet Derry is on a Sunday morning. The answer is very quiet. The bus station had only just opened when I arrived at a little after 10:45, and the first bus that pulled in was my 11:30 departure to Galway from the depot over the border in Letterkenny. A little before we were due to leave a Ulsterbus did pull in, pick some people up and leave again, but that was the only other sign of any public transport in the city this Sunday morning.

The bus left on time and headed out of the city and out of the country across the most invisible border in the world. Anywhere else you could have mistaken the sign for just a road sign telling you that you were in a new county, the only difference is that County Donegal is in a different country to County Derry.

The bus pulled into the first main stop at Letterkenny about 5 minutes early and the driver popped out to speak to a member of staff. I didn’t think anything of it, but a little bit further on at the next stop some 25 minutes late we were all asked to get off the coach and get on the (much nicer) coach in front. The driver had reported at Letterkenny that his Speedometer was sticking at 70 KPH so he didn’t know how fast he was actually going on the main roads, hence getting to Letterkenny ahead of schedule.

After the change of bus the journey was uneventful as we headed South and West towards Galway.