Rothar Routes

Cycle routes & pilgrim journeys in Ireland and Europe …..

Posts tagged ‘Baunreagh’

10 Hidden Gems, hiding in Plain Sight..

As the morning mists lifts over our beautiful country bóthríns, the rolling of my tyres is the only sound I hear. This is bike touring – intimate, unhurried and endlessly rewarding. You see every road has a destination, some are hiding in plain sight.. here are 10 that brought me quiet satisfaction when I visited them during 2024:

1 Fourknocks Passage Tomb

15 kms south of Newgrange is the much lesser known Fourknocks Passage Tomb. Keys are available from a neighbouring house and you can explore this fabulous 5,000 year old tomb all on your own. Off the beaten track and all the more impressive for it.

2. The Seven Wonders of Fore

The Seven Wonders of Fore include the monastery in the bog, the water that flows uphill, the tree that won’t burn, the water that won’t boil, the anchorite in a stone, the mill without a race and the lintel raised by St Feichin’s prayers! This is a magical place in County Westmeath with a lovely 4kms walk to visit all the sites. Check it out!

3. Meelick Weir Crossing of the Shannon

The weir was damaged in severe storms in 2009 and again in 2015/2016, when the walkway was also damaged and was subsequently closed and is now reopened. It links the historic village of Meelick in east Galway to Lusmagh in west Offaly and forms part of the Hymany Way and the Beara-Breifne Way walking trails.  It’s a unique spot – the three provinces of Leinster, Connacht and Munster meet right here. Lots of interesting historical sites on both sides of the Shannon here.

4. The Shannon Pot

The Shannon, Ireland’s largest river, at a magnificent 360kms, literally comes bubbling out of the ground close to the border between Cavan and Fermanagh in the Cuilcagh Mountains, at a place quaintly called The Shannon Pot or Log na Sionna as Gaeilge, “The Hollow of the Shannon”. It’s a large pool of golden brown water about 16 metres in diameter and at least 9 metres deep. The water reaches the Pot through a network of underground streams and many say that it actually starts in County Fermanagh at a place called the Pigeon Pot.

5. Clonfert Cathedral

I stumbled on a unique burial tradition here in Clonfert, where graves are lined with chicken wire and branches of laurel are woven into the wire to provide a beautiful resting place for the deceased. I was delighted to see this being done while I was being regaled with the true tale of the incredible 9 legged cycle! Anthony Flanagan lost his leg many years ago in a combine harvester accident. He didn’t allow it define him or inhibit him and he undertook an incredible charity cycle a couple of years ago along with 4 others. With just ONE LEG he completed a 420km cycle IN 24 HOURS for some local causes. The following year they cycled to Croagh Patrick AND HE CLIMBED IT! I came out of Clonfert graveyard with my head spinning, full of amazement at the spirit of Anthony and his absolute determination to get on with life regardless of the cruel hand he was dealt. St Brendan the Navigator founded his monastery here and it became a great seat of learning with over 3,000 monks here in its heyday.

6. Presley Ancestral Grave

It’s hard to reconcile the glitzy image of the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll with this peaceful corner of Wicklow, but perhaps that’s the magic of it. As I stood there, the connection between past and present felt palpable. There’s a QR code on a sign at the entrance to the graveyard, which gives a detailed account of the Presley connection. Nearby Hacketstown also claims to be the birthplace of the Presley ancestors. There are court reports from the 1870s of a savage beating William Presley received on land he rented in Hacketstown, possibly by the ‘Whiteboys’, a secret agrarian society which defended tenant farmers land rights… I don’t think Elvis was singing the ‘Green Green Grass of Home’ in honour of the old sod!

7. Mount Melleray Monastery

Sad to say, but since I visited Mount Melleray over the Summer, news has broken of its imminent closure. It’s a Cistercian Abbey located in the Knockmealdown Mountains. The Abbey was founded on 30 May 1832 by a colony of Irish and English monks, expelled from the abbey of Melleray after the French Revolution of 1830, and who had come to Ireland under the leadership of Fr. Vincent de Paul Ryan. It was called Mount Melleray in memory of the motherhouse. I had a great chat there with Father Denis Luke, Prior of the Abbey, about cycling and the Camino, a really nice man who had a kind word for everyone. Soon there will be no one to greet visitors. Another loss…

8. Baunreagh 1798 Camp Field

I finally saw the sign for the 1798 Camp Field, where Father Murphy and the Wexford Rebels were camped out during the 1798 rising. What an epic march they made from Vinegar Hill, then were betrayed and badly beaten at the Battle of Kilcumney, got up as far as Castlecomer and forced back down country before he met his dreadful end at the hands of the Yeomen in Tullow, where he was  stripped, flogged, hanged, decapitated, his corpse burnt in a barrel of tar and his head impaled on a spike in the Main Square. Hard to forget or forgive those terrible deeds.

9. W.B. Yeats Grave

The village of Drumcliffe, County Sligo is famous for being the final resting place of W.B.Yeats, whose grave is in the churchyard under this simple headstone. Yeats died in 1939 in a hotel in the south of France. He was buried in a pauper’s grace in the village of Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, close to Monaco. His body was returned to Ireland in 1948 and buried in Drumcliffe. The release of State Papers this week express serious doubts over the identity of the ‘Yeats bones’ .

10 Mullaghgarve Mass Rock, Sliabh an Iarainn

Mass Rocks were rocks used as altars during the Penal Laws in the 1700s and were usually located in out of the way locations. This one is perfectly hidden from view behind a tall pinnacle, on the side of Sliabh an Iarainn, County Leitrim and is quite difficult to find. Once you turn at the pinnacle there is a short little section of roughly cut steps that take you to this unique mass rock. It’s perfectly secluded and with watch outs on duty the priest and his flock could safely celebrate mass without fear of the redcoats or peelers surprising them.

The Bike is the Best Way to see what you cannot see!

Every time I go out on the bike I see something new, or rather something old that I see for the first time! There is no other mode of transport that opens the mind and the eyes to little gems of history that otherwise are passed unnoticed. Yesterday I had a great spin out through Ballylinan and Barrowhouse, I stopped in Ballylinan and noticed an inscription on the side of the entrance stone to Grace Avenue. The inscription paid tribute to to one William Russell Grace, formerly of Ballylinan, who left Ireland in the 1840s, travelled to Peru to establish an Irish agricultural community, returned home and then went to the States where he became the first Irish American Catholic Mayor of New York! He held office, lost it at the next election but regained it at the following election and in his second term received the Statue of Liberty as a gift from France! Isn’t that an amazing little snippet of history. I had no idea about until I happened by chance to stop and read the feint inscription on the entrance stone! The weather was incredibly mild and I got a lovely 48kms done on the quietest of back roads.

Today took me in the opposite direction; while out in my sisters’ house on Christmas night, someone mentioned the Alpaca Farm at Augha. In all my cycles around the Nurney plateau, I hadn’t come across this Alpaca Farm, which I see on Google Maps is the ‘ Tinryland Alpaca Farm! I found it easy enough and could see them well in off the road but was disappointed they weren’t wearing hooped jerseys!

It was another lovely mild morning, even if a little misty at times and I headed on down to Dunleckney Graveyard, where I could see that TC Clarke, who lives beside it was having a gathering of the clan! A great footballing family. Into Muinebheag and out to Royal Oak, where I swung a left for Wells graveyard. One of the best kept old graveyards in the county – it wasn’t always so as the story board recounts the deterioration in the graveyard with ‘pigs, sheep and goats all using the headstones as scratching posts! Records show a church here as far back as 1262 AD and there is a well maintained Church ruin still standing. There are headstones dating back to the 1700s and it is still an active graveyard. It’s a very tranquil picturesque setting and you could hardly be buried in a better place!

I then crossed the old Kilkenny road and headed up a bóithrín in the direction of Milebush. Now that was a steep steep climb, with gradient reaching 15% at one point; no wonder Michael Meaney was always so fit! Mind you looking at the Ordnance Survey Map, I think he could have played for Kilkenny too! As I climbed up out of the Barrow Valley, I entered what appeared to be Carlow’s ‘Land of the Long White Cloud’ and visibility became quite poor as I made it to Baunreagh, subject of a possible new wind farm, which does not appear to be welcome in the area; there are a lot of houses dotted around here and it’s easy understand the concerns.

I was again glad I was on the bike as I finally saw the sign for the 1798 Camp Field, where Father Murphy and the Wexford Rebels were camped out during the rising. What an epic march they made from Vinegar Hill, were badly beaten at the Battle of Kilcumney, got up as far as Castlecomer and forced back down country before he met his dreadful end at the hands of the Yeomen in Tullow, where he was  stripped, flogged, hanged, decapitated, his corpse burnt in a barrel of tar and his head impaled on a spike in the Main Square. Hard to forget or forgive those terrible deeds.

Visibility was getting poorer and I headed for home along the Ridge Drive, turning back towards Clogrenanne and then sharp left for the Cruachán and back through Graiguecullen. 54 kms in total, with 700 metres of climbing. Another great day in the saddle!