suaveharv in Ireland pt II

5AM. Ross-Carberry region. Wet and windy.
Did I mention I was hungry?
I looked for four stone circles and found none. I began to wonder if an Irish stone circle was a myth!
Then at last, at six o clock, amidst a hazy rainy Irish morning, I found
Lettergorman (South) Stone Circle
I don’t think I’ve ever been so relieved to see a site! It is a ‘typical’ Irish five stone ring, with a quartz stone (an outlier pushed against the circle?). It’s small, uncared for, and like most circles I’ll visit this week, it’s in a field with no signpost or track way. There’s just so many ancient monuments here, that they go almost unnoticed in this sparsely populated part of the world.
Next I found Ahagilla Stone Circle
It was ruined, and in the intense Irish rain, looked a very sorry site indeed. I walked around it but only a few stones were left standing. It is also sometimes called Bealand, I read later. Being early in the morning, a farmer started to march his cows into the field containing the stones. I sloshed back to the van, wondering if the rain would ever stop!
I easily found Templebryan Stone Circle It was right by the road! I find these ‘urbanised’ sites fascinating. I returned to take a picture a couple of days later, under bluer skies.
Templebryan is a large imposing circle. . Some of the stones are about 6ft high. Five stones make up this very solid looking circle, and there is a quartz stone in the middle. I am convinced these quartz stones are outliers pushed into the circle years ago to make way for farming. I liked Templebryan a lot. The house opposite had noisy dogs and kids. I wondered what they thought about living opposite a 6,000 year old temple called Bryan.
Ballyvacky Stone Circle next.
After asking two foreign farm workers, I found this circle quite easily, although it’s almost unrecognisable from a distance due to the folage. Seven stones, and most of the stones are overgrown. I rooted through the trees to find another single quartz stone. Obviously an important part of these Irish circles.
In my field notes I singled out this one as my favourite of the day. It was certainly the last one of the day—I was sodden!
In the back of the van I got changed into clean dry trousers and socks and they felt glorious! It was dinner-time and I needed to find somewhere to sleep that night. I drove West. .
It rained all day. None stop. Luckily, I found myself in Bantry Bay, a lovely little harbour village with pubs and restaurants and a B&B right by the sea-front. Job’s a good ‘un!
I found an empty pub, drunk several pints of Guinness and watched the rain.
I eat in another pub opposite the B&B, and by late afternoon I was as tired as I’d ever been. I slept for a few hours, and woke refreshed. I started writing up my field notes in the pub, and tried to plan my adventures for the next day. I was excited!
After dark the rain actually stopped. I sat on the harbour wall and looked at the lights reflecting in the sea. The last time I heard the night-time sea was in Wales three days ago, inside Carreag Cotean Arthur. Now Bantry Bay Ireland would be my home for the next three days .