This was a very busy and fulfilling day. First an early morning birding walk, then a trip to the ruins of the Rathbarry Church followed by a trip to the Galley Head Lighthouse. I saw a wider variety of birds on my walk but no life-list birds. Then we drove to Castle Freke but the gate was closed, it is off season after all. We drove the tiny lanes just to soak up all that rural Ireland has to offer on this fine sunny day. We stopped at a small roadside church and then went to the ruins of Rathbarry church. This must have been a great house of worship in its heyday but it is so dilapidated now that parts are closed off and deemed too dangerous. We had to hike in a half mile in a very dense and a bit of a spooky forest. The graveyard adjacent to the church was a jumble of headstones. Some had worn down so much that they were just slabs of rock. Some were more modern and were probable replacement stones. Next we drove along the beach looking for lunch but the Beach Shack was closed so we pushed on to the Galley Head Lighthouse. The drive out to the lighthouse was 4 km long and it had us second guessing ourselves dure to the distance. We got to the end of the land and there was a great platform to stand on and look out over the sea. We also walked some of the trail along the cliffs and looked into a deep cleft in the hill. Here was a sea cave ringed by thick layers of moss and lichen. Next post is our excursion to find lunch.
Out before the sun!
I thought that the entire beach was deserted
But then I saw this guy fishing
An old watchtower in the distance
Touchdown
The sun it getting ready to pop up
We saw this house from the other side yesterday
Glassy surface of the water
Don't drive off the edge. This sign is overly dramatic!
Common redshanks
Jackdaw
Breakfast must be here somewhere!
A brace of ducks flying overhead
Just getting the sun
A swan
The birds seem to share the mudflats with each other
Starling in the sun
Heading out to explore
Castle Freke
Not open to the public
No Pony Trekking
A rather new cemetery
Love the walls
The new stones are still using the old designs
The really old ones are quite primitive
A lake in the distance
Fields of barley are planted for the local whiskey distillery
Surfers!
Quaint cottages
Our path to the Rathbarry Church
Moving slow
Spooky old forest
Leip Ladies for scale
The interior was off limits
There were outbuildings
The things that stand the test of time are seemingly random. Take the stone work in this window as an example
From the back of the church
The smaller outbuilding survived almost intact
The Celtic cross
An odd tower
Weathered down to the raw stone
Hoot hoot, this on looks like an owl
Stone and lichen
Very ornate
Just remnants
New cottages getting great stone walls and a cool door
The beaches were beautiful
Nearly empty but for a few brave souls
Looking back we could see the ruins of the church
A few horses
We finally reach the lighthouse
So idlyic
An cottage, perhaps for the lightkeeper
A walkway to an observation deck
There were moss covered towers and the remains of a wall
Perhaps an old fortification
Jagged rocks
What might this be?
A deep scrape in the earth
Seawater came in from the side
The moss and lichen was so thick that it was like walking on sponges
So mossy!
The mysterious cave behind Laura
We are all still alive as no one fell into the abyss
Fuchsia flowers line the lanes all along this part of Ireland
