Turas Columbanus Stage 5
Clonard to Ballivor
Ballivor to Trim
With the evenings closing in, my window for completing this route was narrowing fast. The only way I could see it being completed would be to drive up in the evening, complete 15km sections and cycle back 15kms to the start point. Like eating an elephant, one bite at a time.
It was frustrating but it enabled me to take knock up the kilometres, always edging further along my chosen route.
The flat lands of Kildare and Meath made for easy cycling; no great level of fitness required setting out but with regular stages it doesn’t take long to make big aerobic improvements. I like cycling on my own; I can go at my own pace, stop and explore when I want and easier to hear nature all around!
The road from Clonard to Ballivor took me back over the Royal Canal at Blackshade Bridge – I have no idea where the name came from.
Thankfully the road was quiet as it was narrow with no verge and little margin for error. I took the first left turn which brought me over by Killyon GAA Club which is the halfway point to Ballivor.
Not a place I was familiar with, but it made ties in nicely with the route as the local Church is called after St Columbanus.
It hit the headlines in recent times with the discovery of a preserved Iron Age body in the local bog, now known as Clonycavan Man. He appears to have suffered a violent death and speculation is that it may have been some part of a ritual sacrifice..
The Town hit he headlines in 1940 when Dr. Herman Goertz parachuted in and was eventually captured resulting in his internment in the Curragh Camp. He was an Intelligence Officer with German Military Intelligence, the Abwehr. He was wearing a full German officer’s uniform and a cost stuffed with $20,000, in the middle of the night he swam across the River Boyne and hiked his way across country to Laragh Co. Wicklow to the home of Iseult Stuart. He had remained on the run for 18 months.
The road from Ballivor to Trim was quite a busy one; one turned off it a km out of town onto minor roads and had the scenic road all to myself for the 14 kms to Trim.
Trim is one of the oldest and most historic towns in the country. It is buking the trend of the decline in rural towns and it was great to see all the local shops on the main thoroughfares doing brisk trade.
There’s an old Meath saying “Kells for brogues, Navan for rogues and Trim for hanging!”.
It has many of the old medieval buildings still in existence and they have become major tourist attractions in recent years.
In fact Trim was itself reputedly a major centre for pilgrimage for 400 years from 1397 onwards. A wooden statue of the Virgin Mary, known as the ‘Idol of Trim’ was venerated here in the middle ages until the practice was outlawed by Henry VIII during the Reformation. The Statue was alleged to have worked many miracles and was destroyed, though local legend says it was saved by the town’s people only to be destroyed by chance later on.
There is much to explore in Trim; it is the largest and best preserved Norman castle in the country. Some of Braveheart was filmed here. Across the Boyne is the Yellow Steeple, the remains of the Priory of St Mary. The Abbey was destroyed by one William Cromwell, who went through causing devastation and suffering.
Make sure and visit St Patricks Church for it has some of the finest stain glass windows in Ireland, absolutely stunning display of colours.
It’s a great town to stop over in with lots of accommodation and restaurants.
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