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Returned from the north to Dublin. It was the beginning of the St. Patricks Celebration. Saw some great fireworks. The Liffey was lined with the shells.
Took the bus to Portumna, Galway to meet with Sean Ryan, a friend from a previous unplanned visit to Portumna. The photo to the left is of the scene of my "crush" and the opportunity to meet Sean. |
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Portumna Castle, one of the ancestral homes of the deBurgos / Clanricarde, viewed from the Shannon side.
Sean is the Director of Research for the Wild Geese Heritage Museum and Library at Portumna Castle.
See his Web Site at : http://indigo.ie/~wildgees
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My hosts, The Ryans, of Auvergne Lodge in Portumna, put me up in style. Portumna is about an hour north of Shannon Airport. Great spot to visit (stay at Auvergne Lodge), rent a cruiser, and go up the Shannon to Clonmacnois. |
Portumna Castle Yard – Town View |
 | Clonmacnois is in County Offaly on the banks of the Shannon. The site boasts two round towers, six surviving churches and two complete and exquisitely carved High Crosses. Buried here is the last High King of Ireland, Roderick O`Conor, who died in 1198. The piers for your cruiser are seen at the left jutting out into the river. |
| Western side of Clonmacnois showing the Esker Ridge. Esker: A winding or sinuous ridge of irregularly stratified sand, gravel, and cobbles deposited under the ice by a rapidly flowing glacial stream. I believe that I heard during the tour that this was used as a type of medieval roadway. |  |
 | This rock to the side of Clonmacnois intrigued me. Sean got me some history.
"It is an Anglo-Norman Castle, built in 1214 by the Anglo Norman Bishop named John de Grey, who was from Norwich in England.It is a Motte and Bailey type Castle, that is a small Castle on a hill, surrounded by a Mote which is filled with water. It was only used for about 80 years or so and has been unused ever since. It is built in a field known as the Bishops garden. Apart from this very little is known about it." |
Left from Shannon to return to the US. For the next trip . . . | |