Still snowing, in Southern Ireland

View from room 8,Rockville B&B at Castleblaney; still snowing.


Tomorrow we head for the Premier Inn Dublin Airport (has "talking" elevators ) before our return flight.

Snowed out in search of stone circles and forts!

Time to head south, when you have to scrape snow off road signs (on October 28)!

A local (of 28 years in the area) who stopped in his pickup to inquire why we were stopped at the intersection, couldn't recall seeing any stone circles in the area (we were within 5 km from some historic sites). He then engaged us in very enthuiastic conversation about the upcoming election, saying that he and all of Ireland are rooting for Obama.

So ends our search for antiquities on this, our 4th trip to the Emerald Isle. Heading south.

Where do we go from here?

The Burren

To the untuned eye The Burren looks like rubbly, useless land. Gen. Edmund Ludlow reported to Oliver Cromwell in 1651 that the Burren region "had not any tree to hang a man, nor enough water to drown him, nor enough earth to bury him". Revered in England, reviled in Ireland, Oliver Cromwell promulgated genocide of the Irish during that period.

O'Brien Country

The Burren National Park, north easterly from the Cliffs of Moher in County Clare. The Burren ("rocky land" in Gaelic) is a limestone karst region.


Several prehistoric burial tombs, like the Poulnabrone Dolmen bear testimony to past inhabitants.


This portal dolmen of Poulnabrone shows with what pomp and ceremony the prehistoric Burren-dwellers buried their chiefs.

Over the Pass into County Kerry

Windswept!

O'Brien Castle on the Cliffs of Moher

View of the Cliffs from the South window.

Recycle your bras here

Bra recycle center in a Super Value store in Fermoy. "Please donate your old bras with 1 euro". A clever way to raise money for cancer care.

PV = C

Did you recognize Boyle's Law?

Robert Boyle, from Lismore, Ireland is reknowned for his law relating the volume of a gas to the pressure (Pressure times Volume equals a constant).

Boyle slept here (and so did we, at the Pinetree Lodge B&B).

The Castleruddery Embanked Stone Circle

We spotted a sign to this site on the way from Glendalough to Lismore. This site belongs to one of the rarest ceremonial monument types in Ireland. Sites of this type were being constructed in about 2500 BC, in the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Period. The earthen bank, 30 m. in diameter, is lined on the interior with 29 upright stones. The entrance is flanked by two massive quartz boulders.

The Wicklow Heather Restaurant at Glendalough

The proprietor has decorated the restaurant with lovely old books and even an "ancient" typewriter. There's bound to be a book of interest within reach from any seat in the restaurant.

Curiously, on our table was a book (rightmost), "The Psychology of Eating", by Lewis R. Wolberg, published in 1936. Relatively little good information was availablle on nutrition in those days. On page 189 Wolberg quotes Vance Thompson: "To a scientist there is nothing so trajic on earth than to see a fat man eating a potato".

Glendalough

The Round Tower, visible in the distance, served as a landmark for approaching visitors, and for storage and a place of refuge in times of attack.

Another view of the Round Tower.

The entrance to the Round Tower is about 15 feet above the base.

A woman sketches the Round Tower.

All roads in the Wicklows lead to Glendalough

Glendalough valley with two lakes is renowned for its early medieval monastic settlement founded by St. Kevin in the 6th century. Before founding the monastery, he was said to have lived there in a hollow tree. The story goes that St. Kevin, good with wildlife (like St. Francis) was hopeless with women. When one over-zealous female follower came too close, the pious saint stung her cheeks with nettles to warn her off.

The gateway to the monastic city of Glendalough is one of the most important monuments, now totally unique in Ireland.


The paving of the causeway is still preserved, but very little remains of the enclosure wall.

Dangerous area in the Wicklows

Note the blue rump tag on the sheep, indicating that it is the free-ranging property of the "blue Shepherd".

Free internet access for life in County Cork!

My library card, issued in Skibbereen, County Cork, entitles me to lifetime free access to the internet in County Cork!

The Drombeg Stone Circle

The Drombeg stone circle (also known as The Druid's Altar), is a recumbent stone circle located on the edge of a rocky terrace with fine views to the sea about 2km east of Glandore, County Cork, Ireland. The most westerly stone (1.9m high) has two egg shaped cup-marks, one with a ring around it. It is flanked by a pair of high axial portal stones, which provide a south-west axis, and orientate the monument in the direction of the setting sun during the midwinter solstice.

The site was excavated and restored in 1958. During this process a pot was found in the center of the circle, containing the cremated remains of a young adolescent wrapped with thick cloth. Carbon dating of samples taken from the site suggest that it was active c. 945 - 830 BC.


A sacrificial plate in the center

From Dublin, into the Wicklow Mountains

In the foothills of the Wicklows, on the way to Glendalough.


Dublin, viewed from the Wicklow foothills.


Dublin Accommodation

In the Wicklow Mountains