Poulnabrone

A megalithic tomb.  When excavated a few years ago, it was found to contain the bones of some 20 individuals - men, women and children, dating from around 3600BC.  I've opted for a distant view to show the typical limestone pavement of the Burren.  A close up is the first extra.

We set off this morning in rain, to visit the farmers market in Ballyvaughan, and then to Lisdoonvarna, to the "slow food" festival.  At both stops we bought cheese.  We were in trouble couple of months ago when the offspring visited and found our fridge sadly lacking in cheese - we will be well "cheesed up" when we return home.  Lisdoonvarna is also the venue for a yearly matchmaking festival, and these buildings were suitably decorated (2nd extra)

We then drove down to Corrofin, where we stocked up on basics in a small supermarket.  It was still damp, and as we've been rather spoilt weatherwise, we didn't fancy a wet walk, so we decided to drive back to our apartment on minor roads.  We were passing Poulnabrone, so I suggested stopping briefly, as even in the rain it was only a short walk and we couldn't get too wet looking at a few stones.

In fact, it cleared up whilst we were there, and we actually spent quite a long time - looking not only at the Dolman, but also at the abundant wild flowers.  There were loads of early purple orchids (past their best, but still lovely) (3rd extra), and some burnet roses - only one was in full flower (4th extra).  We hadn't been able to identify this latter plant, so having got chatting to the warden, we asked him, and he was able to name it.  He was also able to tell us that a short while ago there had been many gentians, but some twerp had picked most of them, and the ones left were all hiding due to the rain.  He showed us the closed flowers, and was able to advise us where we might find better specimens.  It's now sunny, so if the weather holds up, we'll be off there tomorrow.