Cruit Island

Our next stop was our visit with Malachy and Liz Doyle on Cruit Island, County Donegal. Ironically, the road was straight north from Gurteen. We had planned a route angling north instead of going through Gurteen again. But when we arrive in Westport the night before, it was discovered that I had left my vest in the Gurteen pub! We called right away and were hoping to stop on our way north. But the pub didn’t open until noon and we wanted to go through there earlier. But, by virtue of the barman bringing the vest to the local grocery store, we passed through Gurteen, stopped at the store, picked up the vest (and bought another package of chocolate digestive biscuits) and were on our way! Irish hospitality shines again.

The trip north to Donegal was very beautiful, becoming wilder and more remote the farther we went. Around noon we stopped in Donegal town for some lunch - tea and sweets! Some lunch. But it was very good in an old restaurant hotel. We had a couple postcards to mail, so we wandered around looking for the post box and into a couple shops. Then we were on our way again to Cruit (pronounced “crutch”) island.

In 2012 there was a huge typhoon in the Philippines. One day when Larry was reading about it online he discovered a group of British/Irish children’s authors who were supporting the relief effort by a kind of online auction for the British Red Cross. One was an offering by Malachy Doyle for a visit with him on Cruit Island off the northwest corner of Ireland in Donegal. We had been thinking of visiting Ireland in 2013, so we made a contribution and were invited to come. When we decided not to come to 2013, he said to just let him know whenever we’d be there, so we did. We had expected a visit and a cup of tea, but he and his wife, a painter, invited us to stay at their home overnight. We enjoyed our stay and the chance to experience this more remote part of Scotland. Malachy Doyle is a very well-known children’s writer. He’s written 103 books, most of them for children between 2 and 6. Their home is an older home they bought and remodeled for their needs, having moved to the island about 7 years ago from Wales. They were interesting people and we enjoyed our visit - a special treat on this trip.

Liz Doyle

Malachy Doyle

The Bridge to Cruit Island