After breakfast I headed out to the stone circle at Drombeg. It was another white-knuckle drive off the beaten track, down 1 lane country roads but I got there eventually. Slight ding to the front of the car swerving to avoid a crazy woman who didn’t slow down to pass but thank the pope, I took the all-inclusive insurance, so we’re good.
There were a few people there when I arrived, but they left soon enough so had the place to myself for a bit. I can usually feel the energy of a place but oddly, I didn’t have any feelings at this place. It’s still beautiful but it lacked the energy I would have expected from a stone circle.
After Drombeg, I drove back to Kilcrohane and passed a sign for a burial ground, way off the beaten track. When Google maps goes offline, then you know you’re off the grid. The cemetery was next to some chapel ruins and there was a car parked there. Met an old man in the cemetery and he said in all the years he’s been going there to see his people, he’s never met a living soul. We chatted for a while and he told me that once a year on 1 November, they have prayers there for the dead. The place was completely overgrown.
Irish graves don’t list date of birth, only date of death, which is odd. Apparently that’s how it’s done here. Date of death and age but no birth date. What a lovely guy. He told me to stay in Ireland, find an Irish farmer and move here. Well, if you happen to have a spare one of those lying about, please let me know!
I stayed for a while longer and walked around. I find the dead make infinitely more sense than the living. They only speak when there’s something important to say. In one of the walls in the ruins, was a little gap filled with coins. Not sure what the reason is for that, but I like it. Most of the headstones were faded to the point where the names are illegible so said hi and moved on.
Took a drive down to the point. With the fog rolling in it felt like I was driving through the clouds, along the winding one lane roads. Thankfully there was a coffee shop at the end of the road so had a cup of tea and some scones with jam and cream. The little Irish lady was sitting there, working on her sewing and we got to chatting. She told me find an Irish farmer and stay. Forget the rat race. Twice in the same day…. two strangers. Same message. Co-incidence?
