This afternoon I finally got to Lough Crew and boy was it worth the wait. What a fabulous place. Yesterday I had felt it calling to me, almost whispering to my soul. It was easy to take a slight detour today coming near Kells and drive to the megalithic site near Oldcastle. The cairns are dated at about 3,300 b.c.
These hills, known collectively as "Sliabh na Caillighe", or the "Mountain of the Witch" and sometimes "The Storied Hills", are individually called Carnbane West, Carnbane East and Patrickstown.
My friend and I were able to enter the tomb where we saw drawings on the stones. One drawing looked like a woman with a baby in her arms. The society which made the cairns was a matriarchal society our guide Malachy Hand told us. The passage of the tomb is lit by the sun during the spring and autumn equinoxes (either of the two times during a year when the sun crosses the celestial equator and when the length of day and night are approximately equal; the vernal equinox or the autumnal equinox). It is said that one can see 18 counties from here and we did see the Cooley mountains and the Dublin and Wicklow mountains in the distance.
I found coming down off Loughcrew a little difficult as it is quite steep. It is such a beautiful place. I sat on the hag's chair and made a wish. You have to believe in magic!
No comments:
Post a Comment