Day 6: Circles that Rock and Finally Fishing

Here on day six, Paul was getting antsy for some fishing, so we found an absolutely stunning lake for him to fish at, called Glanmore Lake. The drive there was as stunningly beautiful as everything has been so far in Ireland. Sigh. I spent the whole drive trying to convince Paul that he could live HERE and by THIS lake instead of the ugly Lake Hartwell where we live now.

Fishing here is very weird (feel free to ask Paul about it if you want to hear his passionate opinion), so we found an old boathouse with a cement slab next to it. Who knows whose property it was, but other people had taken photos of this location, so we assumed we could fish here. It was steep and insanely beautiful green mountains all the way around the lake, and the lake was warm enough that Paul went flyfishing while wading the lake. I stayed on the cement slab with a book. With the backdrop of beauty and a good book, I was in pure heaven. So engrossed in my heavenly sphere that I didn’t notice a local (maybe the owner?) park his car RIGHT next to my head! Whoops. I wasn’t sure if I was trespassing, and all he did was say ‘hello’ and go get in his boat. Feeling awkward, I headed for our car that was parked down the road. I found Paul wading the lake and he was grinning ear to ear. He had caught 8 trout and had loads of more bites. Yay!

A bit later, Paul was ready to go. We drove off from that paradise for some more Irish paradise. First up, Ardgroom Stone Circle. I mentioned Stone Circles in an earlier post, but in case you didn’t know, I have wanted to see Stone Circles since I was a little girl. So this was a dream come true.

Of course, the Stone Circle was in the middle of a working farm, so we had to climb a step ladder over the fence, where there were sheep and cows all over. And then, there was the Stone Circle! I was overwhelmed with emotions, and, as Paul later said, “You got a little weird, there, Cris.” I was so overwhelmed with joy at touching and seeing these ancient stones, that I stood in the middle of the circle and cried big fat happy tears. Paul was very nice about it and backed away politely for a while. I am not actually sure how long we were there. I was off in my own happy land.

After the Ardgroom Stone Circle, we went a few miles down the road to ANOTHER Stone Circle(!!). This was called Cashelkeelty Stone Circle. There wasn’t a lot of information about it, just a parking lot and a sign pointing down a path in the woods. So off we went, thinking it was just up the path. An English older couple had pulled into the parking lot at the same time, and followed a bit behind us, none of us knew where it was or anything about it.

So Paul and I led our little impromptu group through the woods.

 It led out into, surprise surprise, a working farm filled with sheep. It was also right up in the mountains. There was an arrow pointing the way down a tractor road, and off we went. We had to cross three stepladders over farm fences and walked passed plenty of sheep. And the path just kept going up the mountain hills. It was pretty tiring and when we finally got to the “stone circle”, it was just two stones left, and nothing else.

The English couple were pretty bummed, since that was A LOT of exercise with little reward. So they left shortly afterward. Paul and I went climbing up some mountain rocks and enjoyed some stunning mountain views. At least the Ardgroom Stone Circle was good. I didn’t mind the exercise, sheep, or mountain hiking, so I was still pretty happy.

Random lesson of the day: From now on, start filling gas tank in car when it’s half full. It’s getting less and less populated in these parts and we had a tougher time than usual finding a gas station! I love how few people are around!