Back Home - Castles

The one compensation for returning home after such a great holiday is that there are some letterboxes round and about so we can go letterboxing again. When I used to have Boxing Buddies to stay with me in England they used to like to have their photo taken on top of a British Classic Red Letterbox. Fireball is no different and whilst we were in Northern Ireland he had this photo taken:-

Now we are home we decided to go and find The Irish Letterbox. There had previously been a letterbox nearby which was called An Bosca Litreacha Eireannach, which means The Irish Letterbox. It had vanished and been replaced with one call An Tuairisceain Bosca Litir Eireannach which means The Irish Letterbox Returns. We definitely had to go and find a letterbox (hobby meaning) which was about Irish Letterboxes (postbox meaning). On the way Fireball stopped to have his photo taken on top of a Classic Irish Green Letterbox:-

Fireball wasn't very happy about all the seagull dirt and rust on it, but that is what happens when a letterbox is beside the sea :-( 

The letterbox (hobby meaning) was in the area of a nearby castle and required the use of a compass. The clue took us all around the castle which was interesting and then we finally had to look under a moss covered tile. Fireball got a bit carried away looking in the hole:-

But he found it ! We opened the box and great excitement, there was an American Hitchhiker inside it :-) It took us quite a while to stamp up everywhere correctly. The HH had to have an image of the letterboxes stamp as well as our signature stamps. There was another letterbox nearby which we also found but it was too small to leave the HH in so we took the HH with us to plant in a larger box elsewhere. Hopefully some American letterboxers will find it and take it back to America with them.

Holidays - Castles

Another bright day dawned and once again we decided to just meander around the local roads and see what we could find. Having said that, I do love maps - ordnance survey pathfinder maps in particular. I love the way you can see which side of the wall or fence you are on and even which type of trees are growing, the detail is marvellous. Here in Ireland the ordnance survey maps are not quite as detailed as the UK ones, walls and fences do not feature for example, but they are quite good. All ancient sites are listed. I love to find mottes, raths, sutteraines, carns etc etc which would otherwise go unnoticed. People with me usually say things like 'but it is just a mound of earth in a field', but I find it very interesting imagining how prehistoric people built and used these things.

Today we mostly came across castles. Fireball insisted on having his photo taken near the name board of this one so that we would remember where is was when we got home.

Dundrum Castle

He also found the date of the castle carved into a stone pillar and wanted to sit on the very old stone. I said I  thought it had probably been carved more recently, but it was a good way to remember how old the castle was.

Next we walked up to the keep. It was remarkable that it was in such good condition. Inside were some stone stairs leading up to the very top, but I was too afraid of heights to try it. Can you imagine trying to negotiate these spiral stairs in the long draping dresses they used to wear !

The Keep

We did go inside though, it was empty with a well in the centre which was covered to prevent people falling in. Alł the floors above had gone, but you could see the marks on the surrounding walls where they were formally supported. All that was left were holes where the windows and fireplace had been. I thought this photo of the walls looked like a face - two eyes (one winking) and a nose lol.

The Inside of the Keep

We got back into the car and drove further. Once again we came across another castle, this time it was in a forested park so we stopped to see that.

Castlewellan

This castle was in better condition because it wasn't so old. In fact it is a mock castle built in the Victorian era. Sadly we couldn't go and look round inside as it had been turned into a conference centre, and wasn't open to the public. It was in beautiful grounds which we wandered around. Near the car park we found an old tree with a hole in the bark of the trunk and it had rotted causing an unusual formation of wood. I felt rather sorry for it really, it looked like a huge wound.

Poor Tree

Fireball heading up the stairs