Megalithic Wonderland in Sligo

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July 1, 2000

Yesterday I left Westport at 8 AM. It took me an hour and a half to get to the Ceide Fields. Ceide Fields is the most extensive Stone Age site in the world, containing fields, houses and tombs. The walls built for the fields are the oldest in the world (about 5500 years old). It's supposed to open at 9:30 AM, but there was no one around and since I've been twice before, I left. It was super foggy on the drive out there.

On the way back, I had to pull over to wait for these ladies to change fields.

After that, I went to Carrowmore and had another good tour guide (have had one on each visit). Carrowmore is the largest megalithic cemetery in Ireland. It contains 60 tombs in total, including one that is considered to be the oldest man made structure in the world. This was my second visit to the site, and the thing that made this a "can't miss" stop both times has been my tour guide. They have both been intelligent, personable and enthusiastic. I do wish I had waited at Ceide Fields though.

After visiting Carrowmore I went down the road to Maeve's Mound. At the top of nearby Knocknarea, is a giant tomb (180 feet by 33 feet) that is rumored to be the grave of Queen Maebh. The tombs on this hill all appear to face the cemetery at Carrowmore, and the cairn (a stone covered passage tomb) at the top is visible from Carrowmore. The climb only took me 25 minutes. This cairn was gigantic! I couldn't believe how big it was! Seeing this cairn in the middle of Carrowmore would have been even more breathtaking (There is a partial cairn in Carrowmore). It must have taken absolutely forever to build Maeve's Cairn. Local tradition says that to take a stone from the bottom of the hill to the top and to place it on the cairn is good luck, so I did.

The path from the carpark goes through a farmer's pens and I did have to wait again for a couple of cows to pass. There is also a toilet in the car park. That could be important if you don't use the one at Carrowmore!

I went ahead north to Donegal next. Having never been, I was excited about this next stage of my journey. Donegal has the reputation of being more wild and even more beautiful than the rest of Ireland. Driving up the coast from Sligo though, it didn't look radically different from County Sligo. That all changes as you penetrate deeper into the county though. As I approached Donegal Town I began to understand what all of the talk was about.

As I exited Donegal Town though, I ended up behind a tractor that was hauling a trailer of manure. By the time we were out of the round about, the side of my car was decorated with manure. The poor car now has one mirror and is covered in manure.

I arrived at Ball Hill Hostel about 2:45 PM. It's a converted Coast Guard Station with a breathtaking view. No one was there when I arrived, so I went for a run down the coast (the tide was out), what a gorgeous place! After I ran, I had to wait for Kevin (the man who runs the hostel). He showed up a little while later and I checked in and showered.  EDIT:  The hostel is now closed.

After my shower I went into Donegal Town and booked the Walking Tour that is offered by the Tourist Office (£3). I was the only one who showed up, it was great. It was a good tour, I hope that it will catch on. I stayed in town, ate dinner and returned to the hostel.

This place is great. It has a great kitchen and dining room. On the next story is the common room with loads of nice chairs to lounge in, a TV, a chess board, a bunch of books, etc. and it opens onto an observation deck that commands quite a view of the bay. In the kitchen they have placed on the walls (or I should say, "plastered") all kinds of extremely informative tidbits, including the fastest route to Dublin which actually goes through Enniskillen! That will help me a lot in August.

As night approached, I went to the Diamond (the center of town) and the Voyage Bar for the Town Festival. It was okay, but kind of disappointing. They had bands performing on a stage in the center of the Diamond. They were all fine, but that was essentailly all that was happening. All of the pubs had music in them as well. The Voyage Bar had a band playing covers from the 70s and 80s for the most part.

Today (Saturday), I packed up and left the hostel and then went on the boat tour of the harbor. The tour of the bay on the Waterbus was fantastic. We pulled up next to a colony of seals basking on a sand bar and could see the hostel from the boat. This was a can't miss type of experience. I'm glad I decided to go!

Now, it's off to Oideas Gael. I have no idea how long it will take to get there, so I ate lunch at the Blueberry Tea Room. What a great little restaurant! They have an internet cafe upstairs, so I checked my email before I left (about 2 PM).