Fred’n’Sue’s Peregrinations

…… the subject is the light …..

Éire – 3 September

It is raining in Ireland, really it is pissing down – our last leg driving from Hillsborough Palace to Enniskillen was as heavy rain as I have driven through.

A more sedate day today with 2.5 hours of driving – Boyne Valley to Old Melifont Abbey, Monsterboice, Hillsborough Palace and then to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue – getting late so this post will be photos with captions.

1: Melifont Abbey – Cistercian Abbey, or the remains thereof from ca 11thC. You could not help but marvel at the scale and then at the “destruction” wrought in the last 400 years.

What remains of the chapel – the floor was littered with grave markers from years gone by

The lavabo where the monks “cleansed” before prayer

Chapter House – not open as we beat the staff by an hour

2: Monsterboice – tower and high crosses – just before a bus load of German tourists, just after a tour bus of (now you see it now you don’t and why are the grave markers aligned in this direction?)

3: Hillsborough Palace and Gardens – so quiet – where are all the visitors. Fantastic 45 min tour of the palace and ramble around the lush gardens . . .