This was the Ross Errilly Friary built in 1351. Like most such buildings here they knew how to build walls that would last hundreds of years but hadn't quite figured out the roofing business. It was remarkably well preserved. I hope I look that good when I am 650+ years old. After bumping my head for the 200th time on a low doorway on this trip I finally figured out why the friars are always depicted with that little bald spot on the top of their heads.
We had so much good luck with the friary we decided to try our hand at a cairne. We didn't know what a cairne was but we just knew that one called the Ballymagibbon Cairne had to be a good one. We drove down the narrow road for about 100 yards. The beginning of the road was deceptively "car width narrow". Later on the briars and brambles began scraping down the sides like primitive car wash brushes. It was then that we discovered what a cairne must be. It has to be Irish for dead end because that's what we found. A locked gate prevented us from entering a cow pasture that looked, well, like cow pastures should look. It was full of muck, water, grass and cow pies. Off in the distance was what looked like a stone building. I assume it is this building that gives the locals a good view of the funny lost tourists who wouldn't know a good cairne if they saw one.
I have since looked up the word cairne and found that is is gaelic for "mound of rocks". Since all of Ireland seems to be a never ending scene where rocks are mounded I can't see the facination with any particular mound. I have commented to the locals that if rocks ever become a valuable commodity Ireland will be the richest nation in the world.
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| Beware the Cairn |
We now had the good fortune of not only being able to drive our small vehicle on a very narrow road, but we could now do it in reverse with no margin for error. This had to be accomplished backing up the hill with the left and right hand mirrors folded in as we were scraping the thorny brambles on both sides of the road. I tried to look in the center rear view mirror while Sue gave meticulous directions like, "turn". Followed quickly by, "no the other way".
When we finally got to the top of the hill where we had turned off the main road we now had to back into that road which was on a curve with oncoming traffic hidden by a hill about 100 feet away. As this main road was not terribly busy we waited for a few cars to pass. We then said a prayer to the monks of the last friary we visited and made our move backward onto the road, around a telephone pole and into a wide gravel strip where I could turn around. Since you are reading this you already know we were successful.
We then proceeded to our Cong destination and ignored the other brown signs that have probably been put up by mischievous locals and not by the government as we thought. Cong was the major film location for the movie The Quiet Man, staring John Wayne. We got pictures of another friary or abby (we don't yet know the difference) and we tried to get a drink in the bar that now sits on the spot where the original movie bar was located. The door was locked so we went across the street to Squire Danagher's Bar. For those of you who may not be familiar with the movie it was Squire Danagher who was the brother of Maureen O'Hara.
We had lunch with Guinness and white wine. We also had some good craic (crack) with the locals. One gentleman in particular who discussed with us his preference for Galway in the upcoming championship hurling match with Killkenny. He was in the quarry business where he ground up limestone into fine quality sand to be used in glass making. He also mentioned the day a short while ago when Maureen O'Hara visited for a Quiet Man celebration, that she met with and posed for pictures with the locals. He thought she was a very gracious lady. She was 91 at the celebration and still lives in Ireland.
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