Thursday 22 August - Newgrange, old – and strange.

A delicious more-than-you-can-eat dinner in the hotel restaurant last evening, a good night’s sleep, a hearty breakfast and all’s well with the world.  We headed off fairly early this morning to Newgrange (or, to be more correct, Brú na Bóinne) a mammoth circular mound created over 5.000 years ago (before the pyramids) by piling huge rocks, some weighing up to ten tons, atop one another – estimated total weight is 200,000 tonnes.   It is 76 metres in diameter and the central vaulted chamber is up to 12 metres high.  This chamber was constructed in such a way that a single shaft of sunlight shone through the entranceway to the central chamber at almost precisely 9am on the day of the summer solstice.  It would have taken generations to complete construction of this wonder and as the average human life span was about 35 years at the time it is likely that whoever conceived such a marvel knew that they would not be around to see its completion.

We had an excellent guide who took us along a low, narrow passage into the central chamber to see rock engravings and marvel at the enormity of the venture, as well as experiencing a simulated summer solstice, where the lighting was turned off and we stood in complete darkness for a short time before seeing the dim ray of light shine through and eventually flood the complete chamber with light, then just as quickly fade away.  An awe-inspiring experience.

We then made our way to Phoenix Park, just to the west of Dublin – a huge public reserve roughly the size of Sydney’s Centennial Park.  We visited just one of its features, Farmleigh House, the former home of the Guinness brewing family who, about a century ago, were so prominent in Ireland that they accounted for 48% of Ireland’s taxation income.  While waiting for a guided tour of the house we had a quick visit to a Lego exhibition on show in the old stables (which included a Lego model of the Sydney Opera House) and a walk through some of the gardens. We then took an interesting tour of the house which, as you might expect, is huge, with fourteen bedrooms, a ballroom, an enormous glass conservatory, a library that contains original manuscripts dating back to the 13^th century, and hidden doors and passages.  It is now owned by the Irish government and is a favourite sleep-over spot for visiting royalty, presidents and prime ministers.

 After the tour Elizabeth had a chat with the resident donkeys (who declined her invitation to return to Mount Hutton with us) and we then had a fairly leisurely drive (although some was on the very busy southern motorway) to our home for the night, Moate Lodge B&B and working farm at Athy. It was once the hunting lodge of Lord Leicester and has remained in the family to the current day. 

We enjoyed a home-cooked, much-much-more-than-you-can-eat meal (smoked salmon and salad entrée, potato and leek soup, main course of Atlantic Salmon for Elizabeth and beef and potato pie for John accompanied by sauteed leeks, fresh beans and garlic potatoes, and finally home-made apple pie and ice cream).  After our scrumptious meal and an interesting chat with our host Raymond (interrupted only, at regular intervals, by a small, wet dog running into our dining room, pursued by a small, dry boy who would dive under the table, scoop up the dog and depart - until the whole scene repeated itself a short time later), we waddled up the stairs to our comfortable room for another early night.