Advertisement
Ballyvaughn (Baile Ui Bheachain) is a small harbor village located on the south shores of Galway Bay, in the northwest corner of the Burren. The village is surrounded by megalithic tombs such as Poulnabrone dolmen, celtic ring forts such as Caherconnell Stone Fort, medieval churches and castles.
The road out of Ballyvaughn led to Corofin, and we had a very pleasant FLAT ride for about 3km. Then the climb into the Burren began. This climb was about 4.5 miles, but either I was getting stronger (finally) or else the excitement to finally see the Poulnabrone dolmen propelled me forward. Halfway up the climb, we stopped to rest and soak up the scenery of the valley behind us. I noticed a break in the rock wall that lined the road and decided to explore. Beyond the break, there was a grassy path through the trees, so I followed the path, assuming I was on some hiking trail. Turning the corner, I was surprised to find a medieval structure before me and called Geoff and Brian over. The historical sign post indicated that this was a ‘caher’ (stone fort) from the period 500 – 1170 AD. This was probably the defended farmstead of
a wealthy burren farmer. Passing through the structure you could follow a path to an outlook over the next valley. How fun to just come across this great find (sort of like the secret artesian well several days before). We explored the site and took pictures for a while, then continued upward, keeping our eyes peeled for more hidden surprises (we didn’t find any more). The landscape began to change turning from lush green trees and ivy covered walls, to barren rock limestone fields, more wind, and less vegetation. We pushed onward until we reached the summit, where we met a nice older couple from Canada on a month long holiday exploring Ireland then Scotland. We have not really seen too many other tourists on this trip; especially bikers (the Canada couple was driving). We bid farewell, then made our way over the crest and pedaled down on our way to the dolmen.
Poulnabrone Dolmen (hole of sorrows) is a portal tomb, dating back to the Neolithic period, probably between 4200 BC to 2900 BC. I was excited to see this. There were a lot of tour buses with additional tourists at the site but we managed to get some
Road from Ballyvaughn
The final climb (I kept chanting this as I pedalled) good pictures. We then headed to the next spot to visit the Caherconnel Ring fort, but they wanted a lot of euro to visit and we weren’t that interested in the touristy stuff at this point, so we passed. We could see it from the road and took a few pictures.
The next four miles were all downhill, and we made our way quickly to our lunch destination, Bofey Quinns Pub in Corofin. The village of Corofin is situated on the edge of the Burren. It is on the River Fergus and the village takes its name from an ancient fording place on the river Fergus, associated in legend with the romantic hero, Fionn Mac Cumhail and his chivalrous warrior band - Ireland's answer to King Arthur and his Knights. We stopped for a fine lunch and a pint, then set out to finish our bike trip this afternoon. Almost there…
Gaelic word/phrase of the day: Is é an turais beagnach os cionn
(the journey is almost over)
Advertisement
Tot: 0.126s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 11; qc: 52; dbt: 0.0849s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 3;
; mem: 1.2mb