IRELAND 2009

�IRE 2009

Limerick, Clare, Tipperary

Aug. 8th - Aug. 17th 2009

by Garrett Lamb
orchestrion@seznam.cz

Beannachta� daoibh ar�s eile, agus f�ilte! Greetings once again, and welcome! Here is the page of my trip to Ireland from the summer of 2009.

(Once again, you may see a message at the top of the screen that popups are blocked. You'll need to disable that to see the bigger pictures. And if you have an older computer or a slower connection, it might take a moment or two for the page to load - there are lots of pictures).

The financial crisis had hit, and one of my main clients had cut back its language training programme, and I worried about what the following acaedemic year would bring, so I decided that this year, my holiday would be scaled back a little. I found a cheap airfare to Dublin and arranged 10 nights' lodgings at hostels in Dublin and Limerick. My plan was to stay most of the time in Limerick and rent a bicycle for touring.

So here we go... you can click on the pictures to see a bigger image, then click on the little x in the upper corner to send it back into the darkness of cyberspace whence it had come.

So this is the Limerick Trip. I flew to Dublin from Prague with Aer Lingus, as I had done before, and from Dublin, I took a train to Limerick. There I made some day trips with Bus �ireann, each time returning to Limerick for the night. I then returned to Dublin for a couple days before heading back to Prague.

— Train trip. Heuston Station, Dublin to Limerick Junction to Limerick, and back the same route.

— Day trips with Bus �ireann. From Limerick to Listowel, Cashel via Cahir, and Ennis. Later, from Dublin to Tara Cross.

— Walking & cycling trips. On foot and bike around Ennis, on foot along the Shannon to Killaloe.

— The Dart trip around Dublin, between Bray and Howth.

Day 1 - With Iarnr�d �ireann to Limerick

A disadvantage of many cheap rate flights is that they often fly at less than convenient times. Thus I left Prague at 10:30 at night, and arrived in Dublin just after midnight. Knowing that I would be tired and ready to sleep when I arrived, I had splurged and reserved a room at the Travelodge near the airport, which was not as expensive as you might think - in fact, I reserved the room through the hostelworld.com website, where it was listed under "budget accommodation". When I arrived, I further did the Establishment thing, and took a taxi to the hotel. In the morning, I revelled in a proper Irish breakfast - bacon, eggs, beans, pudding (black and white), tomatoes and toast.

I took a city bus to the centre where I picked up the LUAS, Dublin's wonderful new tram system, which took me straight to Heuston Station. Luas is actually the Irish Gaelic word for speed, and it is quite a fast, and comfortable system. The Green Line began operation in the summer of 2004 and the Red Line, the following September. Currently (as of February 2010), both lines together have something like 27 km of track. An interesting point of the Red Line is that for part of its journey through the south west area of the city, it runs through the right-of-way of the old Grand Canal (which had been filled in sometime in the mid-70s). Another interesting point is that Dublin once had 97 km of tram tracks running through the city, with double-decker trams. but these lines gradually died away and the last tram finished in 1959. For 44 years, Dublin was tramless.

Left, the LUAS, Red Line. Right, Heuston Station, Dublin's western railway terminal. It was originally called Kingsbridge when it opened in 1846, but in 1966 it was renamed Heuston, after Sean Heuston, who fought in the 1916 Easter Uprising and was executed by the British.

Iarnr�d �ireann's (that's Irish Rail, dontcha know) intercity trains are modern, fast and comfortable. This is the same type of train I took to Limerick Junction, although this photo was taken at the Limerick station.

Left: The Dayliner at Limerick Junction waiting to take us on to Limerick. The Junction is basically just a platform and shelter in the middle of nowhere. A pretty miserable sort of place to be stranded if you miss your connection.

Right: Colbert Station in Limerick. Like much of old Limerick, it's made of big blocks of grey granite. It too was renamed for one of the executed leaders of Easter Uprising of 1916, Cornelius Colbert.

First thing I did when I arrived was find the Courtbrack Accommodation, which in fact is a residence for students of St. Mary's College, and drop off my bags. Then I went to look around the city.

A few words about Limerick, or Luimneach. The meaning of the Gaelic name, Luimneach, is unclear, but it may refer to a "bare or barren area of land". The same name shows up in other parts of the country in different forms. In the 9th Century A.D. Vikings established a fortified settlement on an island in the Shannon, and went out pillaging ecclesiastical centres along the river. At the end of the 12th Century, the town fell to the Anglo-Normans, who built King John's Castle, St. Mary's Cathedral, and many other buildings which still exist today. Limerick has had a fairly violent history, being in the centre of numerous conflicts between Vikings, Gaels, Anglo-Normans and Britons, but through it all, it has also been relatively prosperous, lying as it does on the mouth of the biggest navigable waterway system in Ireland.

Left and right, two views of St. Saviour's Dominican Church, in a small square not far from the station. The church was built in 1815.

In front is the Tate Clock, built in 1867 as a tribute to Sir Peter Tate, mayor of Limerick at the time. He was a successful businessman who contributed greatly to the welfare of the poor in the city.

Inside the church is an interesting set of the Stations of the Cross. They are painted as frescoes - that is, they were painted directly onto the wall when the plaster was wet - and then the wooden frames were hung over them.

Looking eastward across the Shannon at the north end of the city. From left to right are St. Munchin's Church, a nice little collection of brightly painted houses, the Thomond Bridge, King John's Castle and St. Mary's Cathedral. The name Thomond most likely comes from Thomondr, the first Viking chieftain, which itself may come from the Gaelic Tuadhmhumhain, meaning North Munster.

The mighty Shannon, from opposite ends of the town. Left, looking inland from the Thomond Bridge and right, looking south from the Condell Rd. Bridge, the last bridge crossing the Shannon. From here it flows on out to the Atlantic Ocean.

A few more scenes around the river.

Above left: St. Mary's Cathedral in the background, and the white building in front is the courthouse. The white bridge on the right marks the entrance to the canal, which rejoins the Shannon farther east.

Middle left: King John's Castle, built by the Normans and named for King John of England.

Middle right: A horse and sulky on the Thomond Bridge. Horse racing, particularly harness racing, is very popular in this area. (The Australian flags on the bridge were there because Ireland was playing Oz in the Rugby cup that weekend).

Right: St. Mary's Cathedral, another Norman construction which survives today. When Cromwell occupied the city, he used it as his stable.

Left, the Sarsfield Bridge, lockmaster's house (I believe it's now used by the boat club) and entrance to the lock. Right, the same view showing the promenade along the river.

Day 2 - Listowel and the Lartigue Monorailway

After a good night's sleep and a bit of breakfast at the hostel, I wandered up to the bus station, which is in the same building as the train station, and bought a ticket to Listowel. On the bus, the driver was a friendly white haired old fellow; I asked if this was the bus to Listowel (because Listowel was not its final destination). After I sat down, I started thinking about that, and later I asked the driver, "Would it be right to say 'An bhfuil an bus seo do Lios Tuathail'?". He laughed and asked me if I was trying to speak French. I said, no, I was trying to speak Gaelic. That seemed to catch him off guard and he became somewhat reflective. "Oh my, I've not spoken that for... oh, for a great many years..." Then he brightened up and said, "Still, t� go maith, t� go maith!" (Very good).

Listowel is, in Gaelic, Lios Tuathail, or Tuathal's Fort, and is sometimes called the "literary capital of Ireland" because of the number of writers, poets and playwrights that come from there. In fact, a well-known writer from Listowel, John B. Keane, wrote of his home town:

    Beautiful Listowel, serenaded night and day by the gentle waters of the River Feale.
    Listowel where it is easier to write than not to write,
    Where first love never dies, and the tall streets hide the loveliness,
    the heartbreak and the moods, great and small,
    of all the gentle souls of a great and good community.
    Sweet, incomparable hometown that shaped and made me.

It's a very pretty little town, well taken care of, and indeed, is one of only 26 listed Heritage Towns in Ireland.

Views of the main square. Left, St. John's church, now the Theatre & Arts Centre and Information Office.

Middle left: St. Mary's church. I got there just as Mass was finishing.

Middle right: Listowel Castle, built in the 15th Century during the rebellion against Queen Elizabeth I. In 1600 it was taken by Royal forces and the English monarchy reinstated its authority over the area by executing a bunch of people. The building to the left of the castle is the Literary & Cultural Centre.

Right, the houses and shops are colourful and well tended.

But if we head up out of the square to the edge of town, we'll come to our main goal of the day, the Lartigue Monorailway Museum.

The building that now serves as the museum was originally a goods shed for the Great Southern & Western Railway, the mainline railway that once ran through Listowel. In the area next to it were the grounds of the Listowel terminus of the Listowel & Ballybunion Railway.

The L&B Railway was the first passenger carrying monorailway in the world. It's often called the Lartigue Railway after its inventor, a French engineer named Charles Lartigue. He was commissioned to develop a transportation system in Algeria, which could pass into the Sahara desert without getting buried by Sahelian sandstorms. Watching camels gave him the idea of raising a locomotive up off the ground and balancing wagons on either side of a track, like the camels balanced panniers across their backs. The result was a slightly elevated monorail system, using two lower rails to keep the train upright. He later patented the system and offered it commercially.

About the same time, businessmen in the village of Ballybunion, at the mouth of the Shannon River on the west coast of Ireland, were agitating for a rail link to the outside world to carry, among other things, sand - Ballybunion was known for the high quality of its sand in the cement-making industry. This newly developed Lartigue system was chosen, primarily for its low cost and ease of construction. One of the main advantages of the system was that it didn't require any levelling or ballasting of the ground, which sucks up a lot of money in building a railway.

The monorailway was built, and opened on March 1st (some sources say February 29th), 1888. It was never a great commercial success, and when the track was damaged during the Civil War (1922 - 1923), the railway ceased operations, and in 1924 the company closed, ending a unique period in Irish, and world, railway history. In the 1990s, a restoration committee was established, whose goal was to rebuild a section of the monorailway as a kind of full scale model demonstrating how the system operated. This opened in June of 2003.

Above left: the Listowel terminus as it is today.

Middle left: the posts which supported the sleepers heading towards the first set of points.

Middle right: The system didn't allow for conventional points, so a type of turntable was used to switch tracks. This was the base of that turntable.

Right: A sample of original track, showing the construction.

The original locomotive was built with two boilers balancing on either side of the rail, with two fireboxes as well. The engine was completely scrapped but all the original design drawings still exist, and so an exact replica was built, with the exception that instead of steam (which would be incredibly expensive to operate), a 20 h.p. diesel engine was fitted inside the tender.

It's a great museum and the railyard outside is amazing, especially considering it was all built from 2000 - 2003 as a restoration project. The staff, all volunteers, are a friendly, enthusiastic bunch, who are just proud as punch of their wonderful little train. It was amusing in the museum when a new group of visitors arrived - the guys would go rushing out to start up the train again, pausing only long enough to call out, "We're gonna take another run, ya wanna come?" Of course, I always did. :)

Above: Heading down the track.

Middle left: Yours truly at the helm.

Middle right: Front port stabilizer wheel. Technically, these stabilizer wheels prevent the Lartigue from being a true "monorail", but never mind.

Right: The carriages hitched up, and we're ready to roll.

Of course, lots of stories grew up around the L&B. Ballybunion was always a popular seaside resort, and in the summer, the carriages were often filled with holiday makers heading off for a day at the beach. But one day, late in the season, the weather had taken a turn for the worse, and the sharp wind brought with it signs of rain, keeping the sun worshippers inside. Only a few hardy souls arrived at the station to make the excursion to Ballybunion, including two prominent couples. There was a hefty gentleman with his equally full-figured lady friend, and a very slim fellow with his equally slender companion. As the passengers needed to be spread out in the carriages, in order to maintain proper balance, and as there were very few passengers that day, the station master asked the couples if they couldn't split up for the train journey, very diplomatically trying to explain that two fat people on one side of a carriage and two skinny people on the other would be too unbalanced for the light carriage. The couples graciously agreed, and the large gentleman sat with the slender young lady, and the slim fellow sat with the voluptuous young lady, and when they arrived in Ballybunion, the two men each walked off with his newly acquired companion, and everyone seemed to be quite pleased with the new arrangement.

The engine driver was pretty easy-going, and wouldn't hesitate to stop anywhere along the line to pick up a passenger. About two miles from Listowel the line passed close to a thatched cottage from which the lady of the house � Mamie � often took the train to town. One day when the train was passing the house Mamie was outside hitching her little donkey to his cart. The engine driver, Jackie Riedy, haled her : �Aren�t you coming with us today Mamie�? to which she replied : �Yerra no Jackie, I�m in a bit of a hurry today!�

Above: The track.

Middle left: The co-pilot's view.

Middle right: Looking back over the points.

Right: Many of the carriages had a stair-bridge so that passengers could cross the track when the train was stopped.

Above: Heading onto the points to change tracks.

Middle: Coming off the points.

Right: One of the main driving wheels, located under the tender fairing, showing the brake.

Left: The turntable, used for turning the engine around.

Middle: Johnny, about to shift the points. You see here that the turntable, which was used only to turn the engine around, is straight, but the points were curved.

Right: A display model of the points, showing how the track on the table was curved and slightly off-centre. They explained why, but to be honest, I didn't fully understand and I don't remember now. Anyway, it had a specific purpose and wasn't just that the engineers were drunk.

Just outside of town on the Ballybunion Road, we come to this remnant - a road bridge over the Lartigue right-of-way. It's interesting that both the road and the railway have long since disappeared, but this bridge is still here to show that they once existed.

The bridge above calls to mind a basic problems that Lartigue engineers faced: with the Lartigue track, you've basically got a metre high fence running across the countryside. Perhaps people crossing over the fields could simply climb over it, children and animals could squeeze through the frame... but what happens when the track crosses a road, and you need to get a wagon across?

This involved raising the road level above the height of the train and building a bridge, as above, or raising the road to the level of the track, and building a "flying bridge", as it was called. This operated like a pair of drawbridges lowering down across the top rail. The wagon driver would stop and lower the bridge by means of a rope and pulley system, drive over to the other side, and then raise the bridge again. Back in the days of horses and wagons, speed was not usually so critical, so it wasn't a real problem, unless the driver forgot to raise the bridge afterwards. But I wonder what motorcar traffic would have done to these bridges, had the railway survived longer.

As I recall, there were something like 17 road crossings between Listowel and Ballybunion.

The photo left comes from the museum's own excellent website - http://lartiguemonorail.com/Index.htm.
Take a look, there's lots of information and photos, of the original train and the reconstruction.

Left, the abandoned right-of-way of the old main line (of the Great Southern & Western Railway) running from Limerick to Tralee. Today it's a walking trail. Right, the bright red shades of fuchsias can be seen all across Ireland.

A little further outside the town is this monument to sorrow. The Teampaill�n B�n, the Little White Churchyard, was a common graveyard for victims of the Famine of 1845 - 1847. Nobody knows how many people are buried here and there are no gravestones. Also buried here are the nameless poor who died in the nearby workhouse.

Some Irish wildlife. A Grey Heron (Corr Riasc in Gaelic) watching for food in the Feale River.

As we re-board the bus back to Limerick, we leave behind a town full of colourful history, legends and characters, and perhaps even something more, as one of Listowel's sons wrote:

When a Listowel man takes a drink from any tap in this lovely town
�Tis not only water that's going down, but the purified secrets of the dead
Flowing into his belly and through his head
No town here or in any land will do this for your body and mind
Inspiration flows through the graveyard sod
Turn a tap in Listowel, out flows God!
- Brendan Kennelly

(Hmmm... I have to wonder what Brendan was mixing with God's water when he wrote that...)

Day 3 - Cahir, Cashel and St. Patrick's Rock

The next morning, one of the men who work at the College offered to give myself and a couple of other travellers a ride to the station, God bless 'im. I got a bus ticket to Cashel (of the Rock) via Cahir (or Caher, on older maps). This time I didn't bother trying my Gaelic on the bus driver. I realized that Limerick is not in the Gaeltacht.

We passed through Tipperary (which may be a long long way from Lester Square, but not from Limerick) and arrived in Cahir - pronounced like "care" (which the girl at the ticket counter very pointedly made clear) the name comes from the Gaelic, Cathair Dh�n Iascaigh, or Stone Fort of the Fishing. The centre of the town is dominated by its castle, one of the largest in Ireland, and the river Suir.

Above: Some views of the castle. It was built in the 13th Century, on the site of an earlier stone fort (Cathair, in Gaelic, hence the name of the town).

Right: Some Irish wildlife. There's a Wagtail hiding among the pebbles.

Cahir looks like an interesting place with lots of things to see and do, but I was only there to change buses, so I didn't have time to see anything.

On to Cashel - so the next bus carried me on to my destination for the day, Cashel, which is, in Gaelic, Caiseal Mumhan, Castle of Munster.

Above: The main square in Cashel. The building on the left houses the tourist info centre and a fine restaurant and to the right of that is Kearney's Castle, a 15th Century tower house which is now part of a hotel.

Middle: The structure at the end of the building is the "Back of the Pipes", a cistern and fountain built in 1842 to supply the townsfolk with water.

Right: A thatcher at work.

Left, Our destination, The Rock of Cashel, otherwise known as Patrick's Rock. Right, the main entrance.

Patrick's Rock, Carraig Ph�draig, is one of the most significant sites in Ireland. It was the seat of power of the Munster kings for centuries, and there was probably a stone fort of some type on the hill as early as the 4th or 5th Century A.D.

First thing to do upon arrival is to enter the Vicar's Choral Hall () and pay your admission, pick up a guidebook, and warm up a bit, 'cause it's a cold, blustery day. This hall was built in the early 15th Century to house the men (both clerics and laymen) who were appointed to sing during the services.

The upper floor of the Hall has been restored to give visitors an impression of what it would have been like when it was in use.

The undercroft houses a kind of lapidarium, showing a collection of carved stones associated with Cashel. Most of these stone are part of sarcophagii that were uncovered at the cathedral.

Left: The Evangelists, St.s Matthew and John.

Middle left: A kind of mythical caryatid figure, from a 17th Century wall tomb.

Middle right: An Amphis Baena, that is, a creature with a head at either end of its body.

Right: A pair of Griffins.

Right then, having perused the stones and warmed up, we're ready to go back out into the wind and see the cathedral. Nothing remains of the original stone fortress which was the seat of power for the Kings of Munster, and as there are no records from this time, we don't know what was there or how big or complex it was. What we do know is that in 1101, the reigning King of Munster did something unprecedented in medieval history - he gave the Rock of Cashel to the Church. By doing so, he secured his own position within the Church hierarchy and prevented the Rock from reverting back to the previous ruling family, who were anxious to get it back. As many of the Munster kings had been ecclesiastical men, there was most likely a church or cathedral somewhere on the Rock before that, but this handover no doubt began the ecclesiastical construction in earnest.

The oldest existing thing on the Rock today is the round tower, built most likely in the first half of the 12th Century. This one, standing 28 m tall, is a perfect example and is pretty much complete on the outside. It used to be said that the purpose of these round towers was protective; when the monastery or cathedral was under attack, the monks would hide in the tower and wait until the danger was over. One reason for this idea is that all round towers have the entrance door several feet up from the ground level. It was assumed that the monks would climb up a ladder to the doorway and then pull the ladder up after themselves and close the door, safe and sound away from the raiders. However, recent research has concluded that the elevated doorway was not a protective measure, but that the Irish were better engineers that we had given them credit for.

These towers generally have shallow foundations (because of soil conditions) and therefore a large opening at ground level, like a doorway, would seriously threaten the structural integrity of such a huge building. Especially considering that bells were mounted inside and they can shake a tower pretty good when they're ringing. In Gaelic, the term for these towers is Cloigtheach, or "Bell- house".

That's not to say that they were never used for protection or defence - there are no records of monks ever taking refuge in the "bell-houses", but upon reflection, being cooped up in that tower with no ability to escape and flee, hoping the raiders would get tired and go away, doesn't strike me as my first plan of action.

Left, the cathedral looking from the north-east. Here you can clearly see the round tower. If you look closely, you can see the lowest opening is right in the middle of the tower, 4 or 5 metres above the ground. Although the tower is connected to the cathedral, there is no access from inside. Right, as seen from the north.

Left: The south-west corner of the cathedral. On the right you can see the remains of the High Cross, or the Cross of St. Patrick.

Right: The original cross is in the Vicar's Choral; this is a cement copy. This cross is unusual in that it didn't have the typical ring around the cross head and it had supports for the arms. One side shows a figure of Christ crucified and the other side shows a bishop or abbot with a crozier, which is said to represent St. Patrick.

Some more views of the cathedral. The oldest parts date from the 13th Century, but it was renovated and rebuilt a few times over the centuries until around 1750, when approval was given to abandon the site, and St. John's Church in town was granted cathedral status. After that, the building fell into decay. In 1869, the Government took control of the more important ecclesiastical ruins as historical monuments, and the Office of Public Works began a programme of stabilizing and maintaining ruins such as the Rock. In the 1970s, extensive archaeological and renovation work was begun here, which continues to today.

Above: From the Choir.

Middle left: The Choir looking at the central tower.

Middle Right: The North Transept.

Right: A 16th Century altar tomb, showing a row of saints (left to right: St.s Brigid, Phillip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Simon, Thaddeus, Matthias)

Above: A side panel of a sarcophagus showing stylized foliage and animals.

Middle left: A head carved into a column in Cormac's Chapel (Cormac was the Munster king in the first half of the 12th Century).

Middle right: Faces peering out from a ceiling arch in Cormac's Chapel along with bits of a 12th Century fresco covering the walls and ceiling. The faces have different characteristics and may have represented the different nations in the world.

Right: A panel depicting the Crucifixion.

Looking out to the west of the Rock, you see the remains of the Cistercian Hore Abbey. It was founded in 1272 and its name in Latin was De Rupe, meaning "of the rock", but in Gaelic it is An Mainistir Liath, "The Grey Monastery", as the Cistercian wore grey cloaks. "Hore" could be an English translation, but should in modern times be written "Hoar". By the 16th Century it had fallen into disuse.

Left is a 19th Century mausoleum of a prominent Cashel family. The High Cross that stands on top was damaged in a storm in the mid 1970s and the pieces still lay next to it (right).

A few scenes of the town itself. Above: St. John's Cathedral. After the Rock was abandoned, this church took on the title of cathedral.

Middle left: The Chapter House at the cathedral. Today it houses the Bolton Library.

Middle right: Some impressive stones in the cemetery.

Right: The Both�n Scoir, or Peasant Dwelling. A tenant cottage dating from about 1640, the last surviving house of 10 original houses. Across the field was the Ducking Pond, where women guilty of unsociable behaviour were ducked. Ahhh, those were the days!

Day 4 - Ennis on foot

Again, back to the station, and this time we board a bus to the town of Ennis. Here it was my plan to rent a bicycle and spend the day cycling. But, first thing I should do is get my bearings, so I head off to the Tourist Information. I am always impressed with the Irish Tourist Information offices. They are always well stocked with useful maps and brochures, and the larger ones often have a good selection of souvenirs, but most of all, I have never been disappointed with the people there. They are always helpful and friendly and they can generally answer any question you throw at them. Wonderful people.

So I got there and picked up a couple maps, found out where Tierney's Bike Shop was, bought a few postcards and a guidebook, and while I was at it, asked about the West Clare Railway Engine, a steam locomotive that used to run on the narrow gauge West Clare Railway from Ennis westward to Lehinch on the coast, but was now on static display somewhere in the town. The girl explained that the engine had been resurrected and was now running on a section of the old railway as a museum train. Cool. I thought about going to see it, but it was way down at Moyasta, which was quite a distance from Ennis... so, never mind. Next time.

She also recommended taking a walk through the museum, "The Riches of Clare", which I did. Excellent displays presenting everything about County Clare: agriculture, landforms, military and political history, religious & spiritual history, water resources and energy, with lots of artifacts to supplement the maps, photos and diagrams. I was quite surprised to learn that John Holland was from Clare. If you remember him from your history lessons, he emigrated to the U.S. at the turn of the last century and built the world's first practical military submarine. Most modern submarines, military and civilian, follow the same principles and technology that he developed a century ago. There was a little video game in the museum about operating his first submarine, which I found quite addictive and sucked up a fair bit of my time. In fact, the whole museum was very interesting, and by the time I could pull myself away, the morning was pretty well gone.

So when I finally arrived at the bike shop, I decided that it wasn't really worth renting the bike just for the afternoon, so I reserved one for the next day (which wasn't actually necessary, but it would give me some motivation to get there in time) and went for a walkabout.

The name Ennis comes from the Gaelic Inis, meaning island, because the first settlement was founded on an island in the Fergus River. It was always an important administrative, religious and trading centre, and maintained its peaceful prosperity throughout its history. Today, the people of Ennis focus on keeping the town a very livable place. A few times it has placed in the top three in the Irish Tidy Town competition, and the international organization Project for Public Spaces has listed Ennis as one of the top 60 best urban places to visit in the world. I would tend to agree.

Ennis is full of sculptures, mostly stone, but some in wood and metal. Left is "Celtic Rest", which is, in fact, a bench. Right, "Contentment is Wealth", the name of a well-known song.

I passed this graveyard, called Drumcliff. Here there are the remains of a 15th Century church (but which probably began life much earlier than that) and a round tower. The whole country is littered with ancient churches and round towers, and you stumble across them in the most unlikely spots. Something that surprised me was that at first I thought a lot of the stones here were white marble, and I wondered where it came from, but on closer inspection, it was only white lichen on the stone.

Another little church and graveyard in the middle of nowhere, this is Templemaley, dating from the 9th Century. Some of the stones are pretty old, some are pretty new - people have been laying their dead to rest at this church for well over a thousand years. In a place like Ireland, time takes on a very different meaning. The world goes on - empires rise and fall, swords give way to firearms, new continents are discovered, steam power is harnessed, and then replaced, the atom is split, and mankind takes to the air... and through it all, the people of Clare have been coming to this little building to say farewell to their family and friends.

Day 5 - Ennis by bike

This day I went straight to the bike shop from the station and picked up the bike I'd reserved. A pretty swanky 21-speed Raleigh Pioneer Metro LX. Very good bike. I had checked the map earlier, and about 5 km east of Ennis, I spotted a village called Spancilhill, and I thought, "God's wounds! There's Spancilhill! I wonder if that's THE Spancilhill, from the song... So as I was leaving the shop, I asked the owner if that "Spancilhill" on the map was THE Spancilhill, you know, famed in song and story, "Last night as I lay dreaming..." Spancilhill, you know, THAT Spancilhill. He said yes.

So I decided I had to go see it.

Last night as I lay dreaming of pleasant days gone by,
My mind bein' bent on ramblin', to Ireland I did fly.
I stepped on board a vision, and I followed with the wind
Til first I came to anchor at the Cross of Spancilhill
(click on the YouTube link below to hear the Wolf Tones doing their rendition)

The village itself is nothing - a few houses and the pub (above right). But it was a very important place in the past for the annual Spancilhill Horse Fair. This has always been "horse country", and in fact, the name of the village comes from the term "spancilling", where a horse's left front leg is tied by a short rope to its right hind leg, to prevent it from moving quickly and running away. At this point, I headed north west, to go see Dysert O'Dea, and didn't continue on to Clooney, " a mile from Spancilhill".

And so, after a long and convoluted way through many winding paths and missed turns, I eventually ended up at the Dysert O'Dea, and O'Dea's Castle. The term "dysert", or "dysart" in some maps, comes from desert, and it's used here to mean " a quiet, empty place", which it is. The area was originally called The Dysert of St. T�la, who founded a monastery here in the 8th Century. Later the area came under the control of the O'Dea family, who built their castle here at the end of the 15th Century. Over the centuries, the castle changed ownership a few times, but always came back into the possession of the O'Dea's, until the end of the 18th Century, when the Synge family took control of the lands.

In 1970, John & An�la O'Day from the U.S., bought the castle and began the process of restoring it. Later they leased it to the Dysert Development Association, who opened it to the public as a museum.

The Dysert O'Dea castle. Right is the kitchen. Much of the castle has been restored to reflect the lifestyle of 15th Century noblemen.

From the battlements: left, the High Cross of St. T�la. Right, less than a dozen miles away to the north is the Burren, that magical stone wasteland. For more on the Burren, take a look at my Ireland 2007 album.

Above: My trusty steed for the day.

Middle left: St. T�la's Cross, with the ruins of his church in the background. The black spot on St. T�la's right hip is a hole from which a stone hand in the two-fingered blessing gesture once projected.

Middle right: T�la and the crucified Christ. It was said that praying before the cross was a good remedy for toothache. Which I believe is possible. If you slip on a cowpat and crack your jaw on the stone and knock out the bad tooth, you'll come away thinking that St. T�la is a pretty crusty, uncouth sort of saint, but he gets the job done.

Right: The remains of T�la's church. Behind it is the ruin of the round tower. The churchyard is still used today, in fact, the grandparents of the bike shop owner are buried there.

Above: The magnificent archway of the 13th Century Romanesque doorway, extremely well preserved. I always have to wonder what was the idea behind the heads in church architecture. This doorway has 19 stone heads in the arch - 12 human heads and 7 "beasts". I would love to go back in time and talk to the men who carved these stones. Did the heads represent real people? Are the animals supposed to be real animals or mythical creatures, and if mythical, did they represent specific things? Were they simply the whim of the stonecutters, or did they follow a specified pattern with a specific meaning? Or were they simply thinking, "This'll drive visitors mad a thousand years from now. Bwahahahahaha...!"

Middle: The pillars of the doorway are also beautifully carved. This must have been a truly wonderful building to see when it was new.

Right: The cows take Communion here...?

I continued on up to the village of Corofin, but by then it was starting to get late, and I turned back to Ennis.

A pub in Corofin (Gaelic, Cora Finne, the White Ford). Corofin is often referred to as "The Anglers' Paradise", as there's good fishing in the nearby lake Lough Inchiquin, and the Fergus River.

Day 6 - Along the Shannon on foot

The Shannon has always been an important element in the history, literature and mentality of the Irish, being, as it is, the longest river and basically splitting the country in half. So I thought I'd go see a little more of this imposing symbol. Local development agencies have been busy working on projects to attract visitors, and to give them more interesting things to do when they're here. One thing has been the creation of several marked hiking trails, suitable for walking and cycling.

Some of these are pathways in name only, following roads and crossing through fields, but give them time, they're working on it, and good for them, too.

This day I decided to follow the Lough Derg Way, which partly follows the Shannon, up through the towns of Clonlara, O'Briensbridge and Killaloe, to Dromineer, on the north end of Lough Derg. I wish I'd had a bicycle for it, just because of the time factor, but never mind.


Map 1. From the Tourist Info office, you head out along the old canal bank which leads you back to the Shannon. You then follow the river to Plassey, where you cross over to the other side and follow the old tow path for th Errina Canal. At Gillogue Bridge, you leave the canal and follow a road for some distance before turning off and climbing the embankment of the Ardnacrusha Headrace canal, which you follow upstream.	Map 2. You continue along the Headrace canal right to the end, pausing at O' Briensbridge to look around the town and then continuing on the other side of the canal. This leads you up to Parteen Weir, where water is diverted into the Headrace. Here you rejoin the Shannon for a bit, before going off on another road.	Map 3. This road leads you straight into Killaloe, on the edge of Lough Derg. From here, the path continues up through the hills towards Dromineer on the northern shore of the lake, but if it's getting late and you have to get back to Limerick, and if you missed the last bus from Killaloe, you walk the next 5 km down to Birdhill, where buses continue running through the evening.

Above: We start our trip at the point where the canal joins the Shannon.

Middle left & right: As in Dublin, Limerick has been developing the canal area.

Right: The 18th Century canal locks have been "modernized", but they don't see much traffic anymore.

Above: A bridge on the old towpath.

Middle left: The footbridge across the Shannon at Plassey.

Middle right: The Errina Canal as it is today. It too, doesn't see much traffic anymore. Well, none, actually.

Right: A bridge on the old Errina Canal, under which boats once floated...

A modern memorial. God rest ye, Murph. I have no idea who Murph was, but anyone who would inspire friends to take the time and energy to make up a memorial stone like this had to be a good fellow.

Above: Idyllic countryside.

Middle left: Here we have just joined the Headrace embankment & are heading upstream to the weir. Downstream several miles is the Ardnacrusha Generating Station.

Middle right: The Parteen Weir where the Headrace starts. A big, ugly, dangerous thing.

Right:The majestic Shannon. Birdhill is somewhere right over there.

And finally, we arrive in Killaloe. In Gaelic, Cill da Lua, or Lua's Church. The first thing to greet us is St. Flannan's Cathedral. It was built at the turn of the 12th - 13th Centuries and replaced an earlier church on this site.

Inside the entranceway of the cathedral are a few historical artifacts. There is a High Cross here, dating from the 12th Century, which was discovered in 1821 lying partially buried in a field in Kilfenora, up in County Clare.

The bishop had it dug up and brought to Killaloe, where it is now safe and sound inside the church.

This is a really remarkable find - an example of 11th Century multiculturalism. This stone, which may have been part of the shaft of a cross, bears two inscriptions. Here you see a Runic inscription, in Old Norse, and it also has an Ogham inscription in Old Gaelic. The Runes read: "Thorgrimr carved this cross", and the Ogham: "A blessing on Thorgrimr". Was Thorgrimr a Christianized Viking? Or a Celt with a Viking parent? And did he carve both inscriptions or did an Irish priest give the blessing later?

The other side of the stone shows a very basic form of the crucified Christ.

Some scenes around town. Above: The boat canal, with a very well-maintained narrowboat tied up.

On the bridge between Killaloe and Ballina.

The boat canal with St. Flannan's behind.

The bridge over the Shannon.

After relaxing and watching the boats go by for a while, it was time to head off to Birdhill to pick up the bus.

Above: On the way to Birdhill.

Middle left: Here we are arriving in Birdhill.

Right: Birdhill seems to be well set up for tourists. I passed a couple B&B's, self-catering apartments, and these lovely centres of hospitality.

Then the bus arrived and carried me back to Limerick. After walking 20 km to Killaloe, and another 5 to Birdhill, I was ready to sleep.

Day 7 - Back to Dublin

This was a pretty lazy day, but after the long hike of the previous day, I didn't mind one little bit. I packed up after breakfast and wandered up to the train station for the last time. Back onto the Dayliner to Limerick Junction, and from there back to Heuston. Once in Dublin, I got a bus to UCD, University College o Dublin, where I had a room booked for a couple days. UCD looks like quite a nice place. It's quite a distance from the city centre, and not too far from Booterstown. It reminds me of my university (Waterloo) - lots of green space, quiet... the only problem I had was the utter lack of signage and mapage. I had no idea where I was or where I was supposed to go and I had to wait quite some time before I found someone to ask. The next day I stumbled upon a guard's kiosk at one of the carparks with a little campus map in the window. I took a photo of it to use as reference.

The view from my dorm room over the campus. Pretty swell place.

After getting settled in, I took the bus back to the centre; that is, O'Connell Street, and wandered around for a while. That's when I began to discover the canals.

Dublin once had 2 active canals running into the city, and throughout the 19th Century, they were the commercial "lifeblood" of the city. But after railways began to arrive, their days were numbered, and when motor-cars became popular, their fate was completely sealed. Traffic on the canals dropped after the Emergency (or World War II, to you and me) and in the 1960s, the canals were finally closed for good and were allowed to fall into disrepair. Recently, however, Dublin has begun a programme of rejuvenating the old, run down canal districts, bringing the waterways back to life as an attractive element in a new urban landscape. I went to take a look at some of this renovation.

First the north side of the Liffey. George's Dock was warf on the edge of the city centre and is located next to the entrance to the Royal Canal from the River Liffey, and from there, the canal ran up through Dublin and headed north-west, running 146 km through the Irish heartland towards the River Shannon, passing through 46 locks . It was completed in 1817, and by 1830, it was carrying 40,000 passengers and 80,000 tons of cargo every year. Usage fell after the war, and the canal was closed in 1961. It has been renovated and many sections are open to boaters again. The towpath of the entire canal is also open as a hiking trail.

Above & middle left: Just down from the famous Custom House is this Scherzer Bascule bridge, where George's Dock meets the Liffey. It was a type of lift bridge that could swing out as it lifted, giving more space for boats passing through.

Middle: After that, we come to the sea lock into George's Dock. The lock is no longer operational and the bridges no longer open.

Right: The dock, or basin, has recently been renovated, and it looks really good. Canals and docks really add something to the atmosphere of a community, provided they're well maintained.

Here we are crossing the Liffey to the south, looking eastward towards the brand new Samuel Beckett Bridge. A really cool, ultra-modern cable-stayed bridge. It's supposed to represent a harp.

Walking along the south quay. Above: The newly renovated walkway along the river.

Middle left: The Linesman. This statue was put up in 2000.

Middle right: A restored "famine ship". This is the type of ship that carried starving peasants around the world to try a new start somewhere else.

Right: The new Dublin Convention Centre.

A little further down, we come to the entrance to the Grand Canal. It was completed in 1804 and runs down through Dublin and westward to the Shannon, 131 km and 43 locks away. The Grand is pretty much completely navigable along its entire length. An interesting point is that the present canal in the city began as a secondary line. Where the canal enters Dublin, it originally split, and the main line continued straight on for a piece and then swung up next to the Guinness brewery, and the present canal veered off from that. The main line has since been filled in, and the LUAS tramway now runs over part of the old Grand right-of-way.

Above: First we come to the Grand Canal Basin, a "carpark" from the days of narrowboats. The white building is the Irish Waterways Visitor Centre.

Middle left: From there the canal leads south, under the new bridge, past the old warehouses & into the newly renovated area.

Middle right: This area has recently been developed and is now full of offices, hotels and upscale residences. The object in the water on the left is a Heron.

Right: I like to see this. To find wildlife making its home in the middle of a big city is a good sign. It shows just how clean the canal is and how stable the environment.

Above & left: A little further on we come to the first (or last, if you're coming in to Dublin) set of locks. The stretch along the canal has been renovated as a parkland, and it's a very pleasant and scenic place for walking.

Middle: Idyllic countryside, right in the middle of the town.

Right: A view of Lower Baggot St., waiting for the No. 10 back to UCD. It'd been a long day and I was ready to sleep.

Day 8 - The DART Tour

Today I decided to do something that I had often thought of - a DART tour of the city; DART being the Dublin Area Rapid Transit. Touring a city by public transit gives you a great overview of a place. I did these kind of "tram tours" when I lived in Bratislava and Vienna, and I found it really interesting to see how the character of a city changes and fluctuates from district to district, neighbourhood to neighbourhood, even from street to street.

The first railway in Ireland was the Dublin and Kingston Railway, which began operating in 1834. It ran from Westland Row Station, which is today Pearse Station, some 10 km south-east along the coast to what was then called Kingston, Dun Laoghaire (or, Dunleary, as the locals call it), which was rapidly becoming a "bedroom community" for people working in Dublin. An interesting point of Irish railway history is that unlike most other countries, the first railways in Ireland were built to carry passengers and not goods, primarily because of Ireland's lack of natural resources and industry. So the railway was built to carry the suburbanites to work and home, and also the weekend holiday-makers off to the beach for a day.

In 1854, the line was extended to Bray, leading to a rapid development of Bray as a holiday spot.

In the northern part, The Hill of Howth Tramway operated a line between Howth and Sutton between 1901 and 1959, using double-decker trams. See the National Transport Museum below.

Bray, or Br�, in Gaelic. Left, looking northward towards Dublin, right, looking south to Bray Head.

So here we are starting our little excursion from the Bray station. On the wall of the southbound platform there are a series of murals depicting scenes from the station through the decades, starting with the station's opening in 1852 and continuing on to an undated "present". The murals depict the changing fashions of people, and the changing colours and types of locomotives and carriages through the decades.

Recently the pictures had started breaking up because of lime seeping from the plaster, so the artist who painted them is now in the process of converting them to mosaics.


For a long, long time, booze has been a big part of the Irish way of life, but this billboard shows that maybe people are starting to think about their drinking. It had to happen sometime.	Here comes our ride.	The Dun Laoghaire station. This was the original terminus of the first railway line (although not the original location).	The marina at Dun Laoghaire.


At Booterstown, looking northward across the strand. That's the Poolbeg Generating Station in the background, with its 207 m tall chimneys.	The Grand Canal Docks station, and some of the old. 19th & early 20th Century buildings on the east side of the basin...	and some of the new: modern development around the basin.	Just past Connolly Station is a maintenance depot.	And a little further on is this residential area. the big building in the background is a new office complex, part of the Docklands rejuvenation scheme.

And here we are at the northern terminus, Howth, or Binn �adair. I can't find a good explanation of the Gaelic name, but binn means a mountain peak, so it looks like "�adar's Peak". Which makes sense; there's a hill in the middle of the peninsula called "The Ben of Howth". The English name however, comes from the Old Norse "hovuth", meaning "head".

I read a book recently called "Na Seolta B�na" (The White Sails), and there was a scene where a woman who had fallen on hard time reminisced about how good life had been growing up in a little house in Binn �adair, and I understand. It is a pleasant little town.

That would be the "Binn", or hill peak of �adar or Howth.

Marine idyll.

This island is called Ireland's Eye.

The marina with Howth's distinctive lighthouse in the back.

Outside the DART station there is The Ready Boat Pillar. The panels around the pillar depict scenes from stories and legends of Howth, ancient, medieval and modern. The sculpture on top of the pillar is the Ready Boat. In times long past, the people here lost an important battle, and the king promised that a boat would be kept at the ready for anyone who is in need.

I had another goal in view in going to Howth - this is the home of the National Transport Museum. A couple huge sheds of old trucks, buses, fire engines, armoured cars and other assorted transport equipment are on display here.

Above: Dennis began in the 1890s as a bicycle manufacturer, then later turned to motorized vehicles, and fire engines. This F8 was built in 1954 and served with the Dublin firefighters until 1984.

Middle left: A 6 wheeled Morris gun tractor of 1939. During the Emergency (i.e., the war), it served with the 2nd Field Artillery, and in 1969, it was bought at an army auction and given to the museum.

Middle right: A horse-drawn steam fire engine, built by Merriwether in 1883.

Right: An Unimog armoured car of the late 50s. 24 of these were ordered by the Gendarmerie (the police, you know) in the Belgian Congo (Zaire) in 1959. 9 had been delivered when civil war broke out, and the Swedish government stopped exports to the Belgian Congo. The remaining 15 armoured cars were mothballed until they could find something to do with them. Around 1970, when the Troubles began in earnest in the North, the government of the Republic needed more armoured cars to use in patrolling the border. Just by coincidence, Unimog happened to have a dozen or so sitting around waiting for a buyer, and �ire bought them. They were used by the army for some years, then transferred to the Reserve and finally withdrawn in 1984.

Above: In the early 30s, the Great Northern Railway used buses as links and feeders for their railway network, but were never completely satisfied with the buses available on the market, so they decided to sit down and design their own. The result was the Gardner bus, which they continued to produce for many years. This example, No. 390, was built by the GNR locomotive works in 1951. It was withdrawn from service in 1966, and has appeared in several films and t.v. series.

Middle left: Double-decker tram No. 9 of the Hill of Howth Tramway (as mentioned in the DART tour, above) undergoing restoration. It dates from 1902, and was the last tram to run on the line, and indeed in all of Ireland, in May of 1959.

Middle right: I'm not sure what the blue thing is, but the cute little orange thingy is a Scammel Townsman; a Mechanical Horse. These 3 wheeled trucks (there's only one wheel at the front) first came out in the early 30s, and were well suited for urban collection and delivery services. They were also very popular around railyards and factory complexes. This Townsman entered service with CIE (the national transport authority at the time) in 1968 and worked until 1981.

Right: The truck on the left is an 8 wheeled Albion of the early 50s. It was owned by the Guinness brewery for a number of years and then passed into other hands. Museum people spotted it in a scrapyard in 1977 and bought it. When Guinness staff heard about their former No. 4 being rescued, they offered to pay for its restoration. It has appeared in a number of films. Leyland developed the Atlantean series of buses back in the mid 50s, but this one comes from about 1974. It too, has been in some films.

Day 9 - The Hill of Tara

Tara, or Teamhair na R� (Tara of the Kings), is the sacred dwelling place of the gods and the entrance to the Otherworld. As such, it was always the central ceremonial ground of Ireland and the coronation seat of the High Kings of Ireland. In order to have the authority to rule over all of Ireland, the king had to be "wedded to the land" in a symbolic wedding ceremony (called the B�n F�s) where he was married to the Goddess of the Land. Although Tara was named for the goddess Tea, daughter of the sun god, Lugh, all the gods dwelt here and many had their own monuments, temples or forts, and the goddess Medbh (Maeve) was the tutelary Goddess of this land.

Tara was one of the most important ceremonial sites throughout Ireland's history. Legend says that St. Patrick challenged the power of the Druids here, and lit a Paschal fire on the Hill to celebrate Easter. In 1843, Daniel O'Connell, M.P., organized a rally here to protest the Act of Union (which united Ireland and the U. K.), drawing 750,000 people. It has always held a special place in the minds of the Irish people.

Today it looks more like an open plain than anything else. The significant monuments are primarily earthworks - circular and straight trenches and embankments which are not especially identifiable from the ground. Arial photographs show the rings and paths quite clearly, but walking around, it's fairly difficult to make out just what the trenches are supposed to form. Historical sources say that at one time there was a large number of buildings on the Hill, but nothing remains of them today.

Above: These "waves" in the ground demarcate the Rath of the Synods (Rath na Seanadh), showing how difficult it can be to identify these things when viewed from the ground. A rath is a kind of fortification made of concentric trenches, or moats, and is sometimes called a ring fort. A group of fruitcakes called the British Israelites believed that the Irish were one of the Biblical lost tribes, and that the Ark of the Covenant was buried on the Hill. Between 1899 and 1902, they tried to excavate this rath, searching for the Ark. I don't believe they found it.

Middle left: The Lia F�l, or Stone of Destiny, the inauguration stone for the High Kings of Ireland. Behind it is a stone commemorating those who fell in the Rebellion of 1798, many of whom are supposed to have been buried on the Hill.

Middle right: This mound is the Forrad, or the Royal Seat, with the Stone of Destiny on top.

Right: The entrance to the Mound of the Hostages (Dumha na nGiall), next to the Royal Seat. This is the oldest structure on the hill, dating from about 3000 B.C., and it is a chambered tomb similar to Newgrange (see my page of Ireland 2007), where cremated remains were interred. The little red & white thing is a flag put there for an orientation run that was going on that day.

Above: The inside passage of the Mound of the Hostages. This passage is aligned in an easterly direction and catches the light of the sunrise on the festival days of Imbolc and Samhain (Feb. 5th & Nov. 5th). The stone on the left is decorated with zigzag and spiral designs.

Middle left: The Well of Tara, otherwise known as Patrick's Well. Although it's part of the Hill, I don't know of any legends associated with this well.

Middle right: A statue of St. Patrick, next to his church. Instead of the traditional Christian two fingered blessing, he is holding a shamrock (shamrock is actually the pronunciation of the Gaelic word seamr�g, meaning clover).

Right: St. Patrick's Church. This church was built in 1822, and today it houses the Visitors' Centre. The first church built on this site was constructed by the Hospitallers of St. John in A.D. 1212.

Near the Hill there was a caf� and shop, with these Green Men on the fa�ade - well, a Green Man and Green Woman. I was surprised to see a woman's face in the leaves, but why not? We live in an enlightened age.

The image of the Green Man, or the Jack in the Green, is said to be the remnant of an ancient symbol or god representing the cycle of death and rebirth, as the trees die in winter and come back to life in spring. Other manifestations of the symbol exist in the story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and the song of John Barleycorn.

Day 10 - Last Day in Dublin and Back to Prague

So it was my last day in �ire, and I had just time to take one last stroll through Dublin. Near Trinity College and St. Stephen's Green is Merrion Square Park, a quiet, relaxing place famous for its statuary. There are several modern statues and monuments here.

Above: Merrion Square Park.

Left: Oscar Wilde. The statue is made of marble of different natural colours, and was erected in 1997. Next to his statue is a plaque with a quotation by Seneca: "A happy life is one which is in accordance with its own nature".

Middle: �ire, erected in 1976.

Right: The Joker's Throne, or the Dermot Morgan Chair, erected in 2002 and dedicated to Dermot Morgan.

Who's Dermot Morgan?, you ask... Why, Father Ted Crilly - take a look here; he's the white haired guy.

Left: Viking Splash Tours operates a couple of old "Ducks" (DUKW, amphibious trucks used by the Allies during the war (i.e., the Emergency...)), as part of their city tour involves travelling on the river. This Duck is named Freya, after the Germanic goddess. Sometimes the passengers are given horned helmets to wear during the ride and they shout "AAAAARRRRRGH!!!!" at the passers-by. And they pay money for this.

Right: If you were wondering where you could pick up a couple of kilos of pregnancy, here's the place. I suspect it went out of business because they only sold pregnancy in pre-wrapped gift packs, and had no bulk-bin specials. Bad business planning, if you ask me.

What would a trip to Ireland be without a bit of William? By coincidence, there was a special exhibit on the life and works of William Butler Yeats at the National Library. So I popped in to see it before leaving.

Above: There was this enclosed space where his poems were projected as text onto a screen along with related scenes while recordings of well-known actors and actresses recited the poems. "I will arise and go now, and go to Inisfree..." Classic lines.

Left: William experimented with masks in some of his theatre plays, gaining inspiration from the Japanese Noe theatre.

Right: William was a great follower of Tarot and communication with spirits. In fact, his wife George had the gift of automatic writing, which provided inspiration for much of his later poetry.

And here we are back on the plane heading to Prague. This had really been an Establishment trip - I had actually driven to the airport and left my car there for the 10 days. But I knew I'd be getting in after 10:00 p.m., and I didn't want the bother of trying to get home with Czech Railways.

Sl�n agat, a �ire, agus feicfidh m� n�os d�ana� th�...