Jeremiah Watt

DAY 2, narrow roads and Burial Mounds

We had done our day in Dublin, had fun and seen much of what we had intended to see while in Dublin. If we had more time I guess we all felt like a tour of the Guiness Plant would have been fun and informative. Since so much of the preservation type work has been funded by the two major distillers, Baileys and Guiness.

Our supper was taken a local Pub and turned out to be just great. Had a walk back to the Hostel, this wears off just enough of supper tot make a hot cup of Tea go down just perfect.

The Hostel was tight you would say, my kids are quite accustomed to it, but it made our young friend Darren’s eyes bulge a tad when he looked it over.

Breakfast was a very simple affair of some toast and fresh oranges load our trappings and head for the roads out of Dublin. We had all agreed that we are quite ready for some green hills and more Historical things to see. Jeremiah tends to take most of the smallest ant trail roads on the map, and Colleen is kept plenty busy with the navigating. She also tends to give a lot of driving instruction s from the safety of her seat on the side without a steering wheel………….we keep an old sock and some duct tape around for those occasions when we would all prefer a little quite.

We stopped and had morning coffee at a local Café, very nice indeed, and I was not sold yet another plan on saving the planet by some mega Franchise coffee shop from Seattle. Headed out on a super narrow road, room for one and had to pass many large trucks and buses, quite tight and very scary on those sharp corners……….had to make one stop so wife could throw one pair of underwear away.

Arrived at the hill of Tara, a monumental place of importance in Irish history. This particular hill dates back to approx 5000AD, that is about 500 years before the begging of construction on the famous Pyramids of Giza , or about 4975 years before the formation of the Walmart Corporation………..even thought more folks have heard of Walmart!!

It is a huge mound of earth and rock work, and given the time at which it was all constructed you would have to be impressed. They move millions of metric tones of earth, and hundreds of huge rocks weighing in at 2-12 tons each. The total scope of the earthworks is approx 1 mile in diameter, with some 35 various burial and mounds etc around the site, not to mention all the huge earthen work item like dikes and moats about the site.

Next was the underground burial tunnels of Knowth, Dowth and Bru na Boinne. Now New Grange “Bru na Boinne holds the record for being not only the oldest but also the largest of these underground burial tombs. The largest total diameter 652 feet diameter, the largest in vertical height at 72 feet, and also the largest total volume of huge rocks hauled in to form the outer wall or support for the massive earthen undertaking. As with all theburial mounds the actual tunnel/chamber takes on a clear cruciform shape, yet not attributed to any form nor sense of Christianity.

Another very unique point is that the dwellers of this area had no Shopping Malls to walk aimlessly around so they would hold Tupperware parties inside of these huge mounds. And interestingly, once you walk into the mounds entrance which is VERY narrow…………..no kidding, very few High School kids in USA could fit into these narrow passages. You stoop/walk some 40 feet into the mound and enter a very small chamber of say 20 feet diameter this chamber is made of cleverly hand lain rock that slowly closes in on its self with each course of rock lain and is sealed off with a cap rock at the top of the construction.

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Archeologists have found NO traces of a leak in any tombs that have been dug up. To the side and back of the central chamber lay small crypts in which were placed bone bowls. These are hand hewn rock bowls of say 3 foot diameter, and they would place the burned or cremated remains of the dead within these bowls. Arrainged around the outside was a row of huge rocks that dwarf the known rocks of Stone “Hinge” , and yet again outside of that we find they drug huge dead trees up the hill and planted hundreds of these like a stockade fence around the very outer perimeter.

All that was very interesting but now we needed a little to eat so we headed for Drogheda and found our next Hostel to be rather well……. Shall we say a little less kept up. Young Darren really had a look when he watched two young women walk in and share his bedroom with him……….and us for that matter. They turned out to be nice gals from Cananda, Ontario matter of fact and we hit it off just fine.

Ate something not sure just what, and then headed for the Hill of Slane, which is Christian enclave dating from year 1000. An imposing rock fortification that sits on high hill and the surrounding valleys. Not a lot left of this Abbey, once a very busy hub of the local farming peoples, it fell to serious damage and disrepair during the Cromwellian years, and never really recovered from that destruction.

It is getting quite late, and dark I may add, so we head for the last of the day the ruins of Mellifont. Now this also dates back to about year 1000, and at one time must have been a drop dead gorgeous setting. This particular Abbey sits in a valley, a tucked away valley at that, and beside a swift flowing stream with a rocky bottom. Very huge structure at one time, it had a beautiful courtyard within its high walls. This Abbey also fell to the ravages of the Cromwell years of mother England.

Didn’t arrive back to the Hostel till about 11:15 and had a cup of tea and some toast to hold the kids over till breakfast. All in all it was a fine day with plenty of great sites and fun for all. Who knows what tomorrow holds, but for this one thing. That should we Pray we may see another great day of sun and bountiful countryside, or we may just begin our first day in a paradise we cannot even comprehend. Think I will Pray, for you and for us/US.

Good night and God Bless