Today for our trip brought us from Derry to Carrigart! Our entire group boarded our designated bus and after an hour or two, we finally arrived to Carrigart. During the first forty minutes we stopped at the Grianan of Alieach, it is this ancient hilltop stonefort said to be made for royal Irish kings, located on top of Greenan mountain, it is a marvelous place to see, especially if you take the stone stairs to the top of the stonefort, you can see the main land of Ireland, I took a lot of photos and it is just a gorgeous view! But an advisement, it can get very windy, so bring a jacket!

(Picture on top of the Grianan of Alieach)

After we left, it took us about another hour to finally arrive in Carrigart, we were welcomed by the peaceful environment, the cold wind, but charming town! We ate our lunch in one of the hotel’s there, then we had a mission to complete a scavenger hunt in Carrigart, we all had to split into teams of two, and each of our teams had to complete certain tasks around town. Something I’ve noticed when doing this scavenger hunt is that the town doesn’t seem like those places you would drive by on a road trip and forget about, it really seemed as if Carrigart had it’s own qualities and what it makes Carrigart, Carrigart! Before coming here (while still in Pittsburgh) I really imagined that Carrigart was this town that has been stuck in the 1900’s, boy was I wrong. I noticed in Carrigart that the town has a stunning view of the beach, it is a stunning view to see, and when the tide gets low, loads of people sign up to ride horses to walk across the beach, I find that it is a really unique quality that Carrigart offers that not a lot of small towns do! Something else I really found intriguing, during our scavenger hunt we stopped by this restaurant named “Carrigart One 8” and asked the owner named Wendy a couple of questions for our priority hunt, while we were asking her some questions regarding the scavenger hunt, I listened to her saying how she used to live in Carrigart, left for 30 years to travel the world, train in Culinary school, then returned 13 years ago back to Carrigart. She then opend the restaurant Carrigart One 8, bringing versatility to the dishes everyone could enjoy. To me, this brings some sort of warmth in my heart, knowing there are similar business owners like this who are passionate about their store, and not just for the money, really goes to show how precious the town of Carrigart is.