Lough Derg and Feakle (East COUnty Clare)

Phew. The presence of a hire car, and a friend, has totally changed the tempo of the holiday and I haven't done any blogging in three days. We've been out from 9 to 5 every day sightseeing and then watching music at the festival in the evenings. We are bit a bit exhausted. I'll try to get through a bit of stuff right now. 

On Thursday we went to Lough Derg, one of the largest lakes in Ireland, to go canoeing. The lake is part of the River Shannon, which has her own goddess, Sionnan, who removed the cover from a holy well in the otherworld and let a lot of water rushing out. We only saw a small fraction of that water, on an easy paddle to Rabbit Island, and then much harder paddle against wind and current to get back to the harbour in Scarrif. Rabbit Island had no rabbits, but plenty of cowpats, indicating that someone must take them out there by boat periodically, which must be a strange sight. I was hoping to see White Tailed Eagles nesting, but saw none. 

Lough Derg shore was the location of Brian Boru's original hill-fort, according to legend.  He was High KLing of Ireland in the 10th century, got rid of the Vikings, and ended the domination of the northern Ui Neill clan over the High Kingship. Beal Boruma was his fortress, and we went there. Having seen so may earthworks lately, I'd have to give this one a 7 out of 10 for grandeur and scenery. You can't see the lake from the fort anymore, for starters! Try harder, Brian. Or, the Board of Works, or, whichever body looks after these monuments. There is a general lack of signage, or even maintenance, for really important stuff out here. 

Finally we went to Feakle, to check out the festival. I had been kidding myself that it must be pronounced Fakle but no, it really is pronounced Fecal. And actually, it was a bit turdy that night - we saw a lot of diddle-dee-dee music in front bars, where the tourists gather to play along with the local Irish and crowds of up to 15 people all play the same melody, with no attempt at dynamics or interesting chords, so it gets a bit monotonous. We stayed for a few hours and then went home. 

We were in bed by 9.30, and I'm glad, because the next day (Friday) was one of the best of the holiday and I needed the energy. I'll blog about it tomorrow. Bed time now., I have to get Daniel to the train station on the morning. He is going home on Monday.