Rambling with Kirk: Lagan to Liffey

[kirk13]

Or Kirk visits a few different places in Ireland!

Two weeks ago I visited the old country. This particular Ramble takes to Belfast,on the river Lagan,and to Dublin on the Liffey. We'll also take a look at a Neolithic monument near Downpatrick,and cross the mouth of Strangford Lough.

[kirk13]

I'll start with crossing Strangford Lough,for no other reason that the sun was shining...and it was pretty much the only time it did on the whole trip

Strangford is a sea Lough. It separates the Ards peninsula from the mainland of Ireland.

For those of you who like your military history,see if you can count all the castles in the pictures of Strangford and Portaferry,on the opposite mouth of the Lough







https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strangford

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Portaferry_II

Although I wasn't in a place to get a photo,there's a fascinating tidal electrical generating device which makes use of the tidal surge into the lough
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strangford_Lough

[kirk13]

Ballynoe Stone Circle combines both a chambered grave and a stone circle,unusual by English standards. There looks to be evidence of there having been a henge enclosing the monuments once upon a time

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballynoe_Stone_Circle

The circle,whilst being well maintained us largely forgotten now,but in Victorian times,the Belfast and County Down Railway saw fit to build a station to service the tourists visiting the Stone Circle


Although the remains of the platform are very clear,my feeling is that the building looks more like a goods shed than a station building. At some point,I must try to find a station plan.

[kirk13]

The path down to the Circle is well maintained,but the hedgerows have grown over it to make a long tunnel,building a sense of atmosphere. A number of dreamcatchers and wind chimes have been hung along it,either by New Agers,or pagans. In a part of the country where the Presbitarian movement is still so strong,it comes as a big surprise to see evidence of non Christian faiths. Mind you,saying that,it says a lot that so many Neolithic sites have survived unmolested. Even Avebury suffered vandalism...

[kirk13]

Although it doesn't show up well in the photos,there's a bush draped with swatches of cloth and rags,which shows that this ancient site is still sacred!

Theres one other interesting thing to note: when you visit Avebury,when you enter the Henge itself,mobile phone signal pretty much disappears,even on a grandad Nokia like mine. When I visited Ballynoe,I didn't have a compass with me,but the compass app on my iPad,which is pretty reliable,would stay fixed on any direction....

[SAK Guy]

What a cool and beautiful trip!!!!!    Thank you!!!!! 

[Smashie]

Thanks for sharing, I must take my son there when he's older. I always loved it over there

[ColoSwiss]

Thanks for another interesting stroll.   

[AimlessWanderer]

I need to get this thread up on the PC at some point, my phone is not doing these pics much justice at all.

Thanks for taking us along John 

[kirk13]

Cheers guys There's more still to come

[Top-Gear-24]

Although it doesn't show up well in the photos,there's a bush draped with swatches of cloth and rags,which shows that this ancient site is still sacred!

Theres one other interesting thing to note: when you visit Avebury,when you enter the Henge itself,mobile phone signal pretty much disappears,even on a grandad Nokia like mine. When I visited Ballynoe,I didn't have a compass with me,but the compass app on my iPad,which is pretty reliable,would stay fixed on any direction....

I love to hear stories like that, you hear a lot of these stories about old stone circles and other "sacred" places, the people who build them probably had a special reason to build them on that exact place, and if our "modern technology" acts weird on those places, it just makes it extra weird.

Thanks for sharing your beautiful pics mate  .

Keep'em coming  .