BY CATRIONA GALLEN
THE Donegal tourism ad jingle "all these highs and lows" rings true for six intrepid tourists from Clonmel and Thurles as their two-week tour of the North of Ireland turned into something of a celebrity circuit.
Siobhan Doran, Catriona Nugent, Sinead O'Connor, Mary B Gleeson, Danielle Feehan and Norma Harrington definitely hit some highs and lows on their few days in Donegal last week.
After hiring a deluxe six-berth camper van at Shannon, the girls headed off on their merry way northward with the intention of visiting Westport, Donegal, the Giant's Causeway and then back to the Oxegen Festival in Punchestown. However, barely two hours later the deluxe camper left its own impact on a bridge and saw the girls return to base.
Undeterred they set out to blaze a trail northward in their two-berth VW van and arrived unscathed in Bundoran where they had a breakdown. A definite low for the girls who had a rickety van and no clutch but every cloud...
A quick e-mail to the Ray D'arcy show and a helping hand from some of Donegal's finest and the girls were soon rubbing shoulders with An Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in the Great Northern and posing in the sand for the paparazzi after catching the waves on Tullan strand.
Local tour guide Matt Britton came to the rescue and whisked the girls onward to Letterkenny where their ailing van had been towed to JJ Reid's garage. The tourist board had organised free accommodation in the Silver Tassie hotel while free bowling was provided at Arena 7.
Suitably rested, the girls were chauffeured to Voodoo nightclub on Wednesday night, picked up and dropped off again, by owner Jason Black.
They were given a VIP tour of the premises and spent the night 'meeting and greeting' their public in the bar.
"We had a great time drinking and dancing the night away downstairs in Voodoo," says Siobhan.
Norma Harrington impressed the crowd with her fabulous singing voice belting out a Johnny Cash favourite "Jackson" and closing the night with "Homes of Donegal".
"Everybody has been so great. We had a brilliant time even though nothing went according to plan. We even had a quick tour of the walls in Derry and took the open bus top tour. We met so many friendly people. We're definitely coming back," added Siobhan.
Back in Dublin on Friday for a guest appearance on the Ray D'arcy breakfast show on Today FM, Siobhan and her bubbly crew were on the airwaves to declare that it is certainly, "different up here."
The VW van is still languishing in JJ Reid's garage.
