Drombeg Stone Circle and Baltimore

On Wednesday, June 20 we drove from Clonakilty to Baltimore. 

We got a leisurely start that morning and our first stop was the Drombeg Stone Circle about 30 minutes from Clonakilty. Seeing a stone circle was on Patty's must see list.

One of the things that I really liked about Ireland was the fuchsia hedges. They were everywhere and in mid June they were all in bloom. Most of them were the common purple and magenta colored blooms but some were white and pink. The above hedge was along the walk from the parking area to the stone circle.

The Drombeg Stone Circle sits in the middle of a field. It is similar to Stonehenge but not nearly as large. It is also a winter solstice circle rather than a summer solstice circle. In addition to the circle there is evidence of a number of other structures nearby; possibly storehouse or bake houses. Archaeological evidence suggests the site was active 945 - 830 b.c.

As you can see, the stones are not very tall. There is a flat stone that might be an alter. Thomas conducted a mock sacrifice of Daniel!

 The remains of nearby structures were interesting to wander around.

You can see here that the other structures were some distance from the stone circle. There was really nothing nearby except fields, cows, a horse and a few houses.

Near the structure that might have been a bake house was a sweet little pool of water surrounded by ferns and greenery.

After exploring the site we were just sitting around so it seemed like a good opportunity for pictures.

 The five kids.

 Charlie and his brood.

 Patty and her brood.

 The kids plus Grammy and Papa.

Dom and I.

After photos we continued on to the town of Skibbereen where we stopped at another Heritage Centre. It was another excellent museum with lots of information about the Irish Potato Famine. Afterwards it was more than time for lunch so we continued to Baltimore.

Baltimore is an ancient port town and had a fairly prominent place in Irish history. Nonetheless it is now little more than a village and its major industry is tourism. It is also the town where my dad's grandparents met and married. At one time there was a ship building school there and my great grandfather was an instructor there before emigrating to San Francisco. It is also the place where we were to meet our guide for our two day walking tour of Cape Clear Island and Sherkin Island. 

The above sign was located near the port. Many of the concrete piers had no railings or other means of preventing cars from just driving off them into the water. We all thought the sign was rather funny and somewhat ambiguous. Did it mean "Caution--cars driving off piers?"

The weather was never terribly warm while we were in Ireland but it the pub/restaurant where we ate lunch had a sheltered patio overlooking the harbor. We sat out there and managed to get sprinkled on only a little. After lunch everyone walked around, explored the few shops and the renovated castle/fortified manor house that dominates the village, read a little and had ice cream.

At about 5 pm our guide found us and we soon boarded the ferry for Cape Clear Island.