Ballyvaughn, Ireland
26 hilly miles
Started the morning learning about Lady Gregory, a patron of WB Yeats and a playwright and actress herself. Great story about her and her mansion, Coole Park.
Then a lengthy discussion with a woman who worked at Coole Park about what route to take and what to see in The Barren (the "Burn").
It's the large expanse of rocky, rocky rolling hills with fragile alpine flora and fauna growing in the clints and gyres (maybe I got that right) of the limestone. We missed our turn right out of town, but that always makes for the best of times: the carpenter in the yard cutting flooring gave us directions, the horses hovering nearby while we had our lunch on the side of the road, and the guy in the truck who asked if I was the police as I stood right in the road getting directions from another guy in a truck:). I'm glad our maps don't work well and we get to talk to so, so many folks. The climb up over the Barren was steep and of course that's when the skies opened up and it really poured on us. Talk about cold! The temps are only in the 50's anyways. Colder yet was the long run down the other side but we were blessed with the most delightful pub in Carron where we decided to have dinner by the warmth of the fire.
And I got a bit of wifi, if I stood in the corner of the far dining room on one foot:). It was nice to get everyone's notes. Thank you:)).
This area is covered in stone ruins EVERYWHERE! We stopped and rambled through an old stone house overgrown with briars. It had a lovely stone fireplace in the center wall. You could tell it was a couple hundred years old. Later we saw a stone tomb, Poulabrone, called a portal tomb. It had two tall portal stones flanking the entrance and a flat capstone on top. This was from 3000 BC! Hard to fathom!! They've found 33 bodies buried here when the excavated it about 20 years ago. Breathtaking. And I never knew these existed. Continuing on into the evening, trying to get some km behind us and while looking for a place to camp that we could hang the tarp, I pulled off when I saw a nook that might work. There was a fence wall with an opening too narrow for our bikes, but I decided to explore beyond. Spotting a path off to the left I decided to follow it up, thinking it might lead to someone's house. And what do you think I found? An old stone fort! There was a plaque about it when you got up there. Cathermore was the name. A double walled circular fort. Most ruins now. But still an exciting find!!!
Pedal on, pedal on. Hard to find places to camp because of all the walls and the animals in the pastures. We continued on into the next town and pulled into the church yard. Churches love pilgrims! Even a bathroom open to the outside. Ahhh! All the comforts of home:)
Happy Birthday, Kim C! I was thinking of you today. Hope it was a happy one, you beautiful being:)
Bonking BagLady
Oh I forgot to mention the puppy who hopped on Blaze's seat as we were leaving the pub then proceeded to follow us for several kilometers down the road. She sure was cute but I was afraid we'd adopted her and she wouldn't find her way home. We managed to lose her on a long downhill. Then we met a cyclist going the other way and I asked her to pick her up and take her back to the pub. She'd follow anyone!
No comments:
Post a Comment