Walking and Baking

By Sophia Iliakis-Doherty
For the past two weeks the walls of Derry/Londonderry have been monitored by two dedicated walkers from Washington State getting their daily exercise while taking in the beauty of the walled city and its surrounding area. Discussing everything under the sun, or better yet under the moon and dusk.


As we walk past St. Colum’s Cathedral-Church of Ireland, over Butcher’s Gate, the line-up of cannons facing the illuminated Guild hall and Peace Bridge, we take care not to slip on the wet cobblestones. We’re constantly distracted by what lay over the walls; a sleepy Derry/Londonderry just waking to greet the day. On our multiple rounds of the walls, we pass the recycling crew collecting bottles from the night before outside of the pubs. After they third day of seeing us walk, they decide it’s time to comment on our walk and pass a few fun morning comments.

Near the end of our walk, we make our routine stop into Doherty’s Bakery for a cup of morning fresh brew (coffee, not tea) and scones or jam-donuts. Our new baker friends greet us with easy smiles and their morning baked goodies! Exciting for us as our walk got our stomachs growling! After we finish, we continue on to the hotel to meet others for tea and the ‘Irish breakfast’ of an egg, rashers, black pudding and tomatoes with tea.

I’ll never forget our daily regimen of chat, exercise and caloric intake – so boring of a thought! But, not when I reminisce in terms of our morning Derry wall walk and Doherty’s Bakery – one of my favorite memories of Derry!