Wednesday, 30th July          TULLAMORE TO CASHEL

Robyn writes: Today was moving day again, so we were up early and off to breakfast not long after 7.30. Another huge, delicious cooked Irish breakfast - Lex had sausages and mushrooms and was very impressed with them. Then we headed back upstairs to repack our ports and get organised to leave. This took a bit longer than we'd expected and in the end, it was about quarter to ten when we left - unfortunately this meant we got to Daingean at about 5 past ten and by that stage the 9.30 mass was over and done with and once more the parish priest was nowhere in sight. So we never did get the chance to check the parish records for Cuskellys. Maybe NEXT time we're in Daingean.....!
We then headed south towards Cashel. As it's not such a long way to Tipperary, we decided to take the scenic route through the Slieve Bloom Mountains - some very pretty pine forest countryside and moors.


Daingean, home town of the Cuskelly family

From the lookout in the Slieve Bloom Mountains on the way to Cashel

Then, after a stop in Mountrath for morning tea, we joined the motorway and from then on it was straight down and into Cashel, getting here at about 1.30. Cashel is a pretty and busy little town absolutely dominated by the Rock of Cashel, the huge castle complex on the hill overlooking the town. We found our B&B on the outskirts of the town; it's a lovely building built in 2000 and we have a really nice, quiet and spacious room at the back overlooking a hilly green field with lots of cattle in it. Very tranquil and rural and the only noise we can hear is the mooing! We were able to book in even though it was a bit early, and then headed out to visit the Rock of Cashel.
This is owned by Heritage Ireland, so once again we got free entry with our English Heritage membership. We had a look around by ourselves first, then joined a tour that started at 3.30. It was really excellent, as Niall took us through the chorister's house, Cormac's Chapel (a stunning church built in the 1100s which still has its original roof - oldest existing one in Ireland), the cathedral, round tower and the rest of the complex. He had the real Irish pronunciation where "th" is pronounced as "t", so we heard about the 'gotic' style of the 'catedral' in the 'tirteent' century! I really enjoyed listening to him! Rock of Cashel is a very historic site dating back to St Patrick, who visited here, and the legendary Irish High King Brian Boru. It was used as a religious site right up until the 1700s, but most of it was trashed by Cromwell's men in the 1600s. Of course. You can just see the remains of the beautiful frescoes which used to cover the ceiling of Cormac's Chapel - they destroyed most of them. And then of course, they massacred nearly two thousand locals who had taken refuge in the cathedral, then torched the building. Tragic history aside, we really enjoyed the tour and looking around the site, which has the most beautiful views including a ruined abbey below it. The sun came out quite a lot during the afternoon and the scenery was quite beautiful.

Inside Cormac's Chapel at Rock of Cashel. You can still see traces of beautiful fresco paintings left on the ceiling of the chancel.

Lex in the cathedral

Niall our guide outside the ruins of the cathedral

Inside Cormac's chapel looking towards the back. The outside of the chapel is covered with scaffolding as they are protecting it from all rain, and carefully keeping humidity out to preserve it.

The western end of the cathedral and the round bell tower

Lex outside the Cathedral and overlooking the valley below. Stunning scenery!

From the other side, we looked out over Cashel

Me in front of the cathedral

The whole complex. You can see the scaffolding at the back covering Cormac's Chapel. The bishop's palace is on the left (you can see a huge chunk of the building which blew off in a storm during the 1700s!) and the cathedral on the right.

After our visit to the Rock, we walked down into town to the Visitor Information Centre to find out about local attractions, and Lex bought another CD of traditional Irish music (he has a few now!) We came back to Aulber House and put our feet up, then showered and headed out for tea. We finally settled on the Castle Kearney Hotel bar - the front part of the hotel is a tower built by local merchants in the 1500s! (The inside was quite disappointingly modern, though). We had a lovely, huge meal there (Lex had a baked salmon and veges and I had Chicken Kiev and salad). We'd actually intended to go to a local Irish music show this evening but are both so tired that we've decided to leave it until another night. It's now ten past 9, raining gently outside our open window (the cows don't seem to mind) and still not dark. We are very glad to be snug and warm inside.

Castle Kearney Hotel, where we had tea

Aulber House, our lovely B&B home for three nights.