During the night we were both woken several times by hurricane-like winds outside. Even though we were securely inside four solid walls instead of a flimsy campervan, Mother Nature still disturbed our sleep. The howling gales continued on for most of the day, and we heard on the news later that they reached up to 160 km/h. Trees and power lines had been felled all over the country. Clearly, it was a great day to drive to Derry.

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Rain appeared in bursts throughout the day, so we had to pick our sight-seeing moments in Derry carefully. We managed a dry walk along the city walls, passing several canons, rows of identical-looking houses plus a handful of barricades. Just as we had finished the round, the heavens opened up again. We escaped inside a busy restaurant, eating lunch until the rain passed.

 

Once it was safe to venture outside, we strolled along the river, passed the heart-breaking Bloody Sunday and Hunger Strike Memorials, then conducted a self-guided tour of the political murals displayed around the city. The events that the paintings depicted were horrific, and I couldn't imagine living here while these atrocities occurred. At one point we saw several police blocking off an entire main street just to arrest one man. I wonder how much of the past is still present here.