14/04/08

14/04/08
Thus far Ireland has been very kind to us, we arrived yesterday in
Dublin to sunshine and recently fallen snow on the ground. Another
chilly night ahead!
Tomtom was set for Naul, 30mins north of Dublin. Our destination; the
Seamus Ennis Cultural Centre. I'd found out that they were hosting a
'slow session' and as I've brought my fiddle with me, I thought this
might be a wise way to start. We parked up near the local church,
cooked dinner and went off to meet the locals. They were very
welcoming, I was able to join in and even start a few tunes, and was
persuaded to play one of our own 'traditional' songs; Pokarekareana.
Back with Pat, I assured Daniel that parking in the church grounds
would be preferable to the street, though he obviously did not believe
me because he kept waking thinking some-one was coming to evict us.
This morning getting out of bed at 830 was a struggle, the sun was
shining and the only place we had to go was Fournocks (na
fuarchnoic). Some locals had recommended to Fournocks, which is a
local pre bronze age celtic burial tomb but of lesser importance than
nearby New Grange which is a very popular tourist attraction.
Fourknocks does house the oldest irish representation of a face
though...and he only has one eye, the other is patched.

We followed verbal directions to the approximate location and then
drove a mile as instructed by the sign; left at the cross, to the
fifth house on the right. We picked up a key for the tomb and paid a
€20 deposit to Mr Fintan White. This gem of local knowledge, off the
beaten track is just our cup of tea - may there be many more on this
adventure.