Certain place names in Ireland never fail to amuse the puerile mind. Ballylickey, Tubbercurry and Boggeragh being just three examples.

 

The Boggeraghs lie about half an hour’s drive from Cork city and are a place of extraordinary beauty. Jane has recently bought a book of walks in the area and as a part of our final push to see as much of Ireland as we can before we leave we have made plans to visit the area several times in the coming months. Our first walk was completed yesterday. We followed lonely lanes and roadways in a 12 km circuit, hardly seeing a soul on the way but surrounded by outstanding, ever changing landscapes.

 

We were by no means the first to enjoy the natural beauty of the area as our walk took us past evidence of thousands of years of life and death in the area. We passed by the remains of two earthen banked ring-forts which would have served as farmsteads sometime in the past two millennia. Further on was evidence of even earlier occupation with two ritual burial sites from at least 3000 years ago. One site consisted of a cairn and small dolmen and a lonely squat standing stone. The other was made up of a cairn and two dazzling quartz standing stones which aligned on a near perfect 5 stone circle. Between these two sites we stumbled upon a more recent centre of worship in the form of a ruined penal church. These churches were built in secluded areas at a time when Catholicism was outlawed in this country and it was easy to imaging an illicit service being held here while someone kept watch from an outcrop above the chapel.

 

We passed by ruined farmsteads, angry dogs, crossed lovely stone bridges and stopped often to gape at the glorious 360 degree views. Then towards the end of the circuit we took a short diversion to visit one last antiquity. The book promised a proud red sandstone menhir in the middle of a field. Since the book was published though, that particular field has been appropriated by a local wrecker’s yard and the stone, which has stood for thousands of years now almost hidden by mechanical debris and spare parts. What a sad way to end up- something to lean broken motorbikes against.

 

We continued on our journey and returned to the car, a little footsore but thoroughly delighted with our day out.