With all the wind and tiny, unidentifiable insects attaching themselves to our clothes for shelter, it was easy to keep the mystical world of the faeries in mind. To enter the site, we passed through a cemetery (of course, finding a geocache as we went along) and made our way over the hill, passed the Stone of Destiny (I had thought about putting my feet on it to see if it would roar, but reconsidered as it might be a bit embarrassing), and through the circling mounds. Glorious. At the bottom of the hill are a few very interesting, prickly trees. There had to, just HAD to be another geocache hidden amongst the thorns and twisted roots. During the cache search, we also came across the ‘faerie tree,’ a place where visitors could leave gifts for the faeries. Apparently, most people found it appropriate to leave trash attached to the tree as a gift. We opted not to add to the rubbish, but said a few kind words of thanks and allowed those little insects to remain sheltered on our shirts until we got back to the car.
Next stop was Newgrange, a passage grave built during the Megalithic period around 3200BC. This too felt to be a magical experience (to me!). When waiting for our tour, we even saw a double rainbow!! That was definitely a favourable ancient omen, wasn’t it? Yes, I’m sure it was.
Our guide was a wonderful storyteller; she explained that though referred to as a passage grave or tomb, no people were actually buried within the mound. Instead, it was thought they used it for ceremonies for the dead, a kind of passage for the soul rather than the body. The tour included a journey through the short, narrow passage (even I had to duck at times) into the small chamber topped with slabs of heavy stone and earth. Admittedly, I was a bit timid given my claustrophobic tendencies. I persisted and was happy I did. Once inside, our storyteller went on to describe what it was like for those ancient peoples. The tomb is absolutely barren of all light, not a flicker of daylight reaches the inner room. In fact, the only time light enters the tomb is during the Winter Solstice when the passage is perfectly aligned with the sunlight of dawn for exactly 17 minutes. This was thought to be the only time a soul could pass from the physical world to the Afterworld. Our guide recreated this dramatic experience for us within the tomb with a string of modern light bulbs. It was easy to feel the enchantment and mystery this must of induced in a time when the sun was still a deified presence.
It was difficult to leave this wondrous mound, but being the last tour of the day, the site officials were eager to hurry us out. The storyteller had certainly peaked our interest by mentioning other passage graves. These passages, however, were aligned to different times of the year. Northeast of Newgrange lies Dowth with a passage aligned only with the setting of the sun on the Winter Solstice. To the northwest, Knowth had two passages, but light only ever passes directly into the inner chamber during dawn of the spring equinox. At no other times of the year did light enter any of these chambers (kind of limits how often you could bury your dead, huh?).
We enjoyed the winding roads and caching possibilities on our drive back to the hotel. We even stopped briefly at the sight of the Battle of the Boyne (not much to see, but we did take a picture). Finally, we made it back to the hotel grabbed a bite to eat for dinner and... SUCCESS! We made it to the pool/spa/sauna/steam room in time despite having an in depth conversation with the attendant about swim caps and regulations. It was a lovely end to a lovely day. Ahhh....
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