The Joiners go Ireland: Day 21

Day 21 was our last full day of touring from the cottage.

We started at the Clonfilough stone, an ancient limestone stone that had the footprints embedded in the stone. The stone also had ancient carvings of Celtic crosses and language that would be difficult to appreciate in a picture.

Next was Clonmacnois an ancient Christian settlement on the Shannon River. It was established by St. Kieran in and around 548 AD. St. Kieran did not see the full potential of the site as he died 6 months after he started the first church. The site saw countless sieges from the Vikings for years and in the end from Henry the Eighths forces during the 1500’s. It was visited by Pope John Paul the 2^nd who gave mass at the site, the pavilion where he said mass is still in place. Thousands of Irish Catholics make a pilgrimage to this site on St. Kieran’s feast day.

On our tour up the Burren, we stopped at a Portal Tomb where the boys got hand made one of kind jewellery made for them using the Ogham language. The tomb was amazing as was the natural limestone formations throughout the site.

Claire had read about an all-natural Perfumery in the Burren which was our next stop on the tour. Scents were purchased by all on our troop on our way up the Burren.

Touring from the cottage was topped off with a visit to the Cliffs of Moher. We have included pictures but they do not do it justice. The cliffs are approximately 200 meters high from sea level with some of the highest surfing waves in the world. The wind was incredible and Owen and Liam tried to sail with their raincoats.

It is a late night arriving back at the cottage for leftovers to clean out the fridge. On to ennis tomorrow to visit with Cousin Barry and his family. Cheers till tomorrow.