Newgrange

Our route today

Today is our last full day in Ireland.  It is our second longest day in terms of driving but it turned out to be the longest day with some sightseeing included, before finishing in Flemington (near Dublin) for the night.

We left our Glencolumbkille B&B at 0830 with a route that would take us to Roscommon and Athlone, where Kim’s family (Gaitely, probably Gately here or variations thereof) have supposedly originated.  But with about 7 generations in India, there is little known about their family history in the old country.

The route was carefully planned to avoid Northern Ireland so that we wouldn’t have to pay for extra insurance for the car.

Roscommon, Athlone & Trim

Reaching Roscommon around 1115, we drove around and stopped at the castle for a brief visit.  We then broke for a rest at a petrol station with a large dine-in facility.

It was impressive and like a food court with several counters serving fresh or hot food plus lots of ready-made options on shelves elsewhere. The ready-made salad box was of restaurant quality with an excellent assortment

From there, it was a 30 min drive to Athlone where we drove around briefly as well.  It was hard to get a good shot of Athlone Castle, located on the bank of the River Shannon.

We had a booking to visit Newgrange neolithic tombs at 1600.  We had time to kill and took a tea break at Trim where we visited the castle.

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Newgrange Neolithic Tombs

We arrived at the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Centre around 1530, well in time for the 1600 booking. To our annoyance, our compulsory guided experience begins at 1645 and the 1600 time was to allow us time to explore the visitor centre’s informative displays.

The Brú na Bóinne Visitor Centre serves the tomb sites of Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth.  But we only have time to visit Newgrange and made the booking a month in advance, accordingly.

I learnt that the Newgrange tomb is about 5000 years old!  It will probably be the oldest site I’ve ever visited.

The shuttle ride from the visitor centre to the Newgrange site took a little over five minutes.

Entering the inside of the tomb, we walked slightly downhill along a narrow passage to the small centre where there were three small alcoves; together they formed a cross shape.  Apart from that, the entire volume underneath the grassy exterior was stacked solidly with rocks.  It had never sprung a leak, so we were told.  Sadly, no photos were allowed.

We were given an informative briefing during which I learnt that:

• the tomb that we were visiting was one of several that were found in the area,
• these tombs didn’t hold whole remains but cremated remains. There wasn’t room in the mainly solid interior to hold very much,
• Because the human remains were cremated, the only significant piece that could be DNA tested indicated that the remain originated from Anatolia (present day Turkey and Syria),
• a small slot above the main doorway allows light to enter the centre of the tomb but during the winter solstice, it gets a few minutes of bright illumination, and
• the front of the tomb is highly restored to the top but along the rest, the restoration is only up to a lower height. When the site was found, a lot of the exterior had fallen down and it was reconstructed using very complex science to work out where the rocks would have been to fall to where they were found.

We had a chance to walk around the exterior of the Newgrange tomb before boarding the shuttle back to the visitor centre.  Despite all the things I’ve seen and done, it was quite an experience to be in such an ancient site (despite the restoration).

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Leaving at 1800, we had some navigational error due to no mobile signal.  We eventually made it to the Countryside Family Home B&B for our nightstop.  It had been chosen so that we would have easy access to the airport in the morning to fly to Amsterdam.

Our elderly hostess recommend that we take reasonably-priced dinner in a pub at Duleek.  Driving the 10 mins to get there, we were shocked at the prices.

Fortunately, there was a Chinese takeaway next door which had dishes for EUR7.50, including king prawns in chilli and garlic sauce!  That’s the price of a petrol station sandwich!

We ate in our room with cutlery borrowed from the B&B.  With the prawns and a chicken curry, it was too much for the both of us but we left no stone unturned.