Carlow Castles & Rathanna Village Day!
What a glorious day for the bike! We are fortunate to have the network of local roads that we have – I cycled to Rathanna and back today, 73kms of tiny bóithríns devoid of traffic, the sun was shining and Carlow was looking marvellous! My route took me out through Nurney, across by Augha and behind Dunleckney, out to Ballaghmoon Castle in the above photo, situated at the moment in the centre of a lovely wildflower meadow.
It’s a Castle steeped in mystery; no one quite knows it purpose. This 14th century Castle is more like a large compound. It has massive 8 foot thick walls, 20 foot high with a large internal courtyard. There are great views through a broken window towards Mount Leinster.
Not much more than a puck of a ball away is the 13th century Ballyloughan Castle, near Corries Cross. This must have been a very impressive site in its heyday with its entrance flanked by two impressive towers. Only a small part of this structure remains today and unfortunately there is no public access.
Placenames are so important; the original Irish versions tell so much about an area. I still have my Father’s copy of ‘Place Names of County Carlow’ by Edward O Toole and I was always fascinated by the names and the sounds:
Coolnacuppogue = Cúl na g-Cupóg = ‘Back of the Hill of the Dock Leaves’! Civil Parish ‘Sliguff’, Barony ‘Idrone East’. Here’s the signpost I passed today:
It was a lovely spin along tiny winding lanes, free of traffic, sheep munching on the plentiful grass of the ‘Long Mile’, stunning views of Mount Leinster and the Blackstairs as I wove my way past Knocksquire and Rosdellig into one of our best kept secrets, the tiny village of Rathanna, where there was an almighty crowd gathered for the Rathanna Village Day. There was a massive vintage tractor display. fun and games, stalls, music and Wexford Mummers performing. It was my first time to see the Mummers live; it’s an ancient tradition, hanging on in rural Wexford and they put on a great show that captured a lot of interest from young and old alike. Just as I experienced on the Camino del Cid in Spain, it’s so nice and important to see culture promoted, valued and enjoyed. It was great to also see stalls promoting local artists, whether artists, potters, silversmiths or sculptors and promoting Drummin Raised Bog near St Mullins and concerns about commercial developments on the Blackstairs Mountains – critically important areas – both locally and nationally of biodiversity. I was struck by the huge biodiversity I experienced on my recent #CaminodelCid cycle in Spain – we are not doing enough to protect these areas!
