Poulnabrone Tomb

We had a bit of a magical mystery tour today.  We decided a general direction to go in, and then waited to see what we found to look at.  The weather was lovely.

We started off at the Poulnabrone Dolmen (main blip).  This is a portal tomb dating from the Neolithic period, between 4200BC and 2900BC.  We visited here last Sunday but the rain was so bad then that we didn't even get out of the car!  There was a warden on the site in a hi viz jacket, who seemed to spent most of his time talking to Americans about the problems with modern farming.

From there we drove up to the viewpoint at the Burren.  Again we were here Sunday, but decided to return on a nicer day where we could see much further.  We had a good wander around the rocks.  There are signs asking visitors not to build stacks of stones, but there seem to be several upright stones in the crevices - we think these might have been done recently!

We drove through to Ballyvaughan for lunch, having a short walk on the seafront before eating in the same cafe that had served us tea a few days ago.

As we were driving out of the town we were flagged down by an approaching vehicle.  The driver proceeded to say (in a strong Irish accent!) that he'd just arrived from "Cambridge, United Kingdom" and that his cards didn't work, and could he have 10 euros for petrol?  We soon said no, sorry, and drove off.

That is perhaps the most imaginative technique for begging I've ever seen, blocking the road to all traffic whilst we spoke was the icing on the cake! He'd have been more successful perhaps if he'd picked on someone who couldn't tell an Irish from an English accent, but I suspect he just noticed the "Drive on the Left!" stickers in the windscreen of the hire car and decided we were gullible tourists.

After our encounter we followed some signs through to an art gallery near the coast and had a wander around there followed by a walk along the seafront at Flaggy Shore.

It was time for tea after that, so we drove to Kinvarra for a cuppa and a cake.  The view across the harbour is in the second extra.

We then drove through to Kilmacduagh Monastery.  We had a flying visit here last Saturday, but didn't have time to stop, so we spent some time there today marvelling at the monks' tower which they used to hide from invaders in.  I was looking for a door, but it turned out to be about 20 feet up in the air - there was no way to get in without a ladder.

The third extra shows a carving on one of the ruins - complete with wagtail.  The tower and other ruins feature in the last extra.

From there it was back to the cottage, then we walked out to a local pub for dinner.  There was traditional Irish music performed by a duo as we ate.