Haunts of the eagle : man and wild nature in Donegal

Each story keeps the passage it was read from. Open one to read the passage as the book has it, and, where the companion has written its own telling, that too.

1. Lough Nacung, bare-flanked companion of Dunlewey

   near Lough Nacung · lake or lakes · Donegal

   Lough Nacung lies beside Dunlewey, described as bare-flanked in contrast to its tree-covered neighbour, set amid the prevailing brown bogland of the area.

   Read the passage

   Dunlewey, with its fine house and belt of woodland, shone like a green oasis amid the prevailing expanses of brown. Farther on lay its companion, Lough Nacung, just as bare-flanked as its neighbour was thick with stately trees. Behind the church the sides of the Poisoned Glen rose precipitous, rugged, and snow-white, splashed with faint grey shadows, while high above, Slieve Snacht towered to the south, shining like polished alabaster in the sunlight. Opposite stood in solemn grandeur the huge pyamid of Errigal, though its brow was out of sight; at once an insane longing to climb it took possession of my heart, which could only be appeased by an actual fulfilment. Winding round the broad base at last I caught sight of the little public-house, which was built literally upon the southern slope of the great mountain. Like Dunlewey itself, that was also an oasis, though of another kind: it was a spring in the wilderness, though water was only used for cooking within its walls. It faced due south and was sheltered from the east, so that the patch of road in front of it was warm as a terrace in the Riviera, nor was the prospect in any high degree less picturesque, though the sea was far away.

   My. heart rejoiced exceedingly, the moment that

   Internet Archive hauntsofeagleman00foxa, Chapter 44

2. Milford at the head of Mulroy Bay

   Millford · town · Donegal

   Milford is a small town situated at the head of Mulroy Bay, described as the most solitary and picturesque of Donegal inlets. The author began a walking journey from here on a mid-May morning.

   Read the passage

   Thirty years ago I disdained any other means of locomotion than had been bestowed upon me by Nature: shouldering my knapsack, strictly limited to the burden of twelve pounds, I set out on ‘‘ shanks his mare,’’ as honest Jack Brimblecombe hath it, early on a fine morning in mid-May from the small town of Milford, at the head of Mulroy Bay, that most solitary and picturesque of Donegal inlets. I had my usual provision of two hard-boiled eggs with

   54 HAUNTS OF THE EAGLE

   Internet Archive hauntsofeagleman00foxa, Chapter 24

   As the companion tells it

   You're coming through Millford, a small town at the head of Mulroy Bay. The author of Haunts of the Eagle called this the most solitary and picturesque of Donegal inlets. Thirty years before writing, he set out walking from here on a fine mid-May morning, shouldering a knapsack of no more than 12 pounds, and started his journey on, as he put it, "shanks his mare."