2 days in Ireland, Post 2: It's a long way to Tipperary

On Wednesday morning, after a scrumptious breakfast featuring pancakes with maple syrup, strawberries and banana, we set off for another day of exploring. The map below shows where we drove during the two days. Shannon Airport is in the middle (M), north of that is where we drove on Tuesday, and south-east is where we drove on Wednesday. As you can see, the southernmost point wasn't too far from Waterford and Kilkenny, which is where we went during our four days in Ireland last October!


On Wednesday, we drove through Limerick and on to Tipperary (click here for a rendition of the famous song, which is almost 100 years old!), where Mary had told us we would find one of Ireland's most famous historic sites: the Rock of Cashel. Tipperary welcomed us with signs saying "you've come a long way". :) After a brief wander through the centre of Tipperary, we asked someone where the Rock of Cashel was, and were directed on another 12 miles, to the village of Cashel (point I on map).

The Rock of Cashel is a collection of buildings up to 1000 years old, sitting atop a small hill and towering over the rest of Cashel. Apparently it's the most visited Heritage site in Ireland. The main buildings are the round tower (c. 1100), Cormac's Chapel (c. 1127 - 1134), and the cathedral (c. 1235 - 1270). It was also the seat of the province's kings prior to this. You can read more on the Wikipedia link above if interested! There's also an old graveyard with lots of Celtic-style crosses surrounding the cathedral.



Most of the buildings are fairly ruined now, particularly the cathedral, which was missing most of its roof. But we could still see the ornate Romanesque and Gothic building styles - elaborate archways surrounded by sculpted human/ animal/ mythical heads, and a semi-restored ceiling where patches of a bright painting could be glimpsed.

It was quite an interesting spot to explore and there was a good video presentation about the site's role in Ireland's history. It was also excellent value; only a couple of Euros each for entry! However, it was so freezing cold and windy up there (Ben's hat got blown off his head) that we could empathise with the old friars who moved out for precisely that reason!!!

Afterwards, we drove to Caher (point J on map), another random village with a castle sitting in the middle of it, and had a late lunch after a bit of a wander around the town. Check out the photo below showing the pub owner's other occupation!



Earlier we'd picked up a brochure on the area's scenic drives, which is how we ended up in Caher, so after lunch we headed slightly back towards Tipperary but branched off to take a road alongside Ireland's highest inland mountain range (around K on map). We then saw a sign to Lake Muskry, so decided to follow that instead. We ended up on a dirt track that took us higher and higher up the side of a hill, passing woolly horned sheep and looking out across a valley with a conifer plantation and a little river far below. We never did find the lake.

Eventually, the track became a minefield of very large rocks and very deep cracks, forcing us to abandon our expedition. Refer to the photo below to see what I mean by "very deep cracks"!! We walked a little further on foot, but soon it was time to start heading back to the airport for our flight home.



Other than a thorough pat down and scan with a handheld metal detector at Shannon Airport (note to self: the skirt and jumper with little metal buckles on them are obviously not a good flying outfit), and the permanent confiscation of the bottle of Clare Jams apple and cinnamon jelly that we had got as a present for someone (unfortunately it counts as a gel, which means it can't be more than 100mL if in carry-on luggage), nothing else eventful happened. And that was our very enjoyable two days in Ireland!