Round The Horn and Ring-a-Ring-a-Rosses

Finally I made the trip to Donegal that I had planned for a few weeks ago. I managed to see everything I had hoped for and a little more. Most of the day was spent visiting portal tombs and talking to farmers, one of which on Horn Head was very knowledgeable about local history and stories. My ideas about the landscape and their relationships to the landscape were put to the test when I asked him the name of a very unusual looking hill in the valley, which appeared to be a focus for the monuments thereabouts. It was with some satsfaction that I was told it's called Crockshee - the Hill of the Fairies.

At a few sites I was snowed upon heavily, which came as a bit of a shock after a beautiful drive as far as Letterkenny. I was also scared out of my whits at dusk while at Kilclooney More, but more of that in my visit notes later. As well as many portal tombs I saw some of the sites I'd been keen to see for a long time.

The very northwest of Ireland is a spectacularly beautiful place and I shall go back as often as sanity permits - it's a 450 mile round trip and I was out for 18 hours all told. I'm not complaining though, as it was the best 18 hours I've spent for a long time and it was very good to be back amongst the stones again.