A weekend in the Dingle, communing in Tara

As I said we spent the night in Navan, a town around an hour inland from Dublin. It is an area rich in prehistoric places and Vaughan took us to Tara, where there is a long barrow, some standing stones and an ancient well.

These sites are behind a church which has a parking area in front of it. There was a beaten up camper van with a strange metal wood burning stove inside it, and a rather jolly inhabitant taking in the vibes of the ancient place. I asked permission to take his photograph and he seemed only too pleased.

We went through the churchyard where there were some small standing stones and climbed the hill behind look at the long barrow which has a gated entrance.

Tara was once a royal centre of the middle kingdom of Ireland, or Mide. The large standing stone is the Lia Fáil, the Stone of Destiny, the inauguration stone of the Kings of Tara. It stands on the top of Tara hill which has a tremendous view over the surrounding countryside. According to legend if a true Irish or Scottish king places his foot on the stone it will cry out to proclaim his rightful reign. In 1842 Daniel O'Connell spoke here against the union of Britain and Ireland to a crowd of around one million people.

We came down the hill and walked along the road a little to see the sacred well. where little tokens had been placed inside.

As we were leaving the crows were starting to roost in the trees around the church and we heard their cries as we drove away.

The fields around Navan hold the best pasture land in Ireland and we went into town in search of a Guinness. In the square a statue of a bull shows the importance of Navan as a cattle market. It was early but we found a bar and had a not so swift pint of the black stuff before we went back to Vaughan's place for supper.