Saturday July 19, 2014

We left the hostel by 8:30 as we needed to get to Newgrange early.  It was about 10 kms from Drogheda and we were told to be there early as it can get booked up.  We arrived at 9:15 and were in the first group to take the bus to the site.  All the tours have to start from the visitor centre and then you are taken by bus to the site.

Newgrange is a megalithic tomb that is 5,000 years old, it was discovered in the 16^th century.  However, the archeaologist Michael J. O’Kelly discovered the very significant roof box and the fact that on the winter solstice, the sun lights up the inner cavern.  We spent two hours at the site and the visitors centre.

As with other megalithic monuments they do not know a lot about the Tomb and the carvings.  Were the carvings art, or a map or some other explanation.  Some say they were the result of hallucinogenics taken during the rituals.

Surrounding the main tomb were 16 smaller tombs.

Inside the tomb were five burial rooms.  This bowl shape was in one of them.

Surrounding the site was a moat and other buildings used for rituals.

Excavations are ongoing and there are areas that have been \’mapped\’ out for further exploration.

As we were leaving at 11:30, they were booking for the 1:15 tour.  Glad we arrived when we did.

The ride into Dublin was MMBA (miles and miles of bugger all).  We saw another couple of touring cyclists.  They were from Australia and had only been in Ireland a couple of days, they were heading to County Cork.

When we arrived in Dublin, we stopped at a McDonalds to check email, to see if our warmshowers host had confirmed – yes we could stay with them, but they wouldn’t be home until 6:00.  It was 4:30 so we made our way to their apartment and stopped of to buy provisions for supper.  We were providing supper, they were providing dessert.

Sarah and Baptiste are originally from France and have lived in Ireland for 2 years, they had cycled around Ireland for their extended honeymoon.  After dinner we chatted for a while and Sarah invited us to stay for Sunday night as well.  Great we can leave all our stuff here while we wander around the City and go to the Guinness storehouse tomorrow.