Ireland Trip Part 2

Day 3 started with my final run on the Killiney Hill Park trails. After checking out from Fitzpatrick Castle, Asia and I headed west along the M4/N4 highway which runs east to west from Dublin to Sligo. While looking for something to eat we stopped into Tormey’s Bar. Unfortunately they weren’t serving food yet but all was not lost since Hugh, the owner, poured us a couple perfect pints of Guinness. We spent roughly an hour chatting with Hugh about New Jersey, Ireland, sports, and of all things “The Sopranos” series. After finding food a bit further down the road, we visited the Boyle Abbey. This 12^th century Cistercian Monastery is a very impressive mixture of Roman and Gothic architecture. The church itself was built in the shape of a cross and its tower still stands at over 60 feet tall. It is also the burial site of 13 kings of Morlurg and 12 members of the royal family of Boyle. Other than the care taker, we had the entire place to ourselves to explore and costing us only 4 Euros each it was definitely a bargain.

Our next stop was to explore the nearby Lough Key Forest Park (formerly Lough Ce). We had a choice of paying to park in the recreation area lot or parking beside the road for free. Do I really need to tell you our decision? Boats were not available to get out to Castle Island so we had to settle for taking pictures of the castle from the dock. It’s said to have been the home of the McDermotts, the Kings of Moylurg, as early as 1184. We visited the remains of the family’s private chapel, giant red cedars, and the Ice House (a fairly large underground storage room). We also had a great chat with an elderly couple that were very eager to share some local and national history and folklore with us.

 

As great as these things were, our favorite find happened totally by accident when I had driven down a wrong road and had to turn around. We found a trail off the side of the road and I could just make out the unnatural shape of a wall through the moss-covered trees. We parked the car and investigated. Much to Asia’s and my surprise we found the very large, unmarked ruins of what we believe to be a wealthy landowner’s compound and farm. This place had everything we could hope to find. Tall walls, beautiful archways, large barn and court yard, and the best of all…a tunnel! We explored this site until dark and finally headed to our next castle hotel, Kilronan Castle.

 

Kilronan Castle, located near Ballyfarnon in the County Roscommon, was built in 1820 and was home to Colonel King Tenison. It sits on over 40 acres of fields, woods, and a lake (Lough Meelagh). The castle oozes with opulent splendor with high vaulted ceilings, coats of armour, hand-carved furniture, fancy dining and reading rooms, and curtains and linens fit for a king. My favorite part though was the dungeon bar where we enjoyed cold pints and live music. We also met some great people including Dave who was celebrating his 40^th birthday.

For more photos of these sites and more, visit me on Facebook at Gary Davidson Runs.