“Bladdering” on about ………. shonet
“the jewel in the crown” of Buncrana as a seaside resort must surely be the walk to Fr. Hegarty’s Rock and the wonderful landmark area of Ned’s Point, surrounded by a “Special Area of Conservation” to the East and the wonderful Porthaw Beach to the North and Lough Swilly to the West.
To say that we appreciate and enjoy this area is an understatement, locals will tell you that it has saved their mental health, in recent times and I would agree with them.
I experienced a breath-taking “ David Attenborough” moment as I was paddling along Porthaw beach one evening in August and met a woman paddling in my direction, she was trying to capture the beauty on camera and we stopped to chat, as we stood there, a shoal of tiny silver fish surrounded us and tickled our legs.
We looked down to see what appeared to be millions of them.
A moment I will never forget, my brush with nature, I was tickled pink with joy.
What has this to do with access to public toilets in the area, everything, I would say, because if we are going to continue to attract visitors and locals in large numbers, as we were during the Summer, we will need to open up existing toilets in the area to make their stay more comfortable and enjoyable and to entice them to stay longer.
There is of course the unsightly fouling of the area, through no fault of their own, when people are short-taken and have an urgent need to use the toilet.
We have a new Coffee Cup shop installed this year and we may even see the development of The Fort in the near future, if more basic facilities were available.
The frustrating thing is, that the toilets exist at present but Donegal County Council is unable to manage their own assets or to persuade other state funded bodies to share their resources for the good of attracting tourists to the area and to facilitate locals as the stroll along the sea walk.