Is just as amazing as a sunny day.

My guide today I met near W.B. Yeats grave. Joe McGowan, what a lovely gentleman. He spent quite a few hours with me showing me around Sligo and the surrounding area. Starting with the grave and church.  I was never a huge fan of poetry, but hearing Joe read it, let’s just say,  I will be getting at least one book. Drumcliffe, a must experience when in Ireland. ” A collection of words in a place where past and future dance together, while silently outside the present waits.”

Benbulben Mountain and it’s spectacular views. Every direction you look at it and every angle the sun hits it, makes you feel as though you are seeing it again, for the first time.  The stories and folklore Joe shared with me were fascinating. He could make a bare field come to life with the stories of historic events that happened near a few rocks. What a people would do to survive during seemingly un-survivable times, it is inspiring.

He shared a walk with me on land he owns. Over barbed wire and wet rocks we climbed for a view of the Atlantic. Passing sheep and lambs (trudging through, what will eventually be great fertilizer, shite). He told me about the warning light that use to me there to signal messages from one county to another, this was long before other ways of communication.  When we got to the end of the land and took in the amazing view of the Atlantic, there were dolphins swimming a bout. Magical. All of this and rain too!

One of the last places for the day, Mass Rock. Thanks to many brave people this still exists and even exists at all. A wonderful place for solitude and reflection under a canopy of lovely old trees.

Lastly, a memorial to an amazing Irish woman, Constance Marievicz. I have a book written by Joe, if you ask, I will let you borrow it, but you will give it back! (Battle of the Books).