Still, tall hill or small mountain, it is only about a 15 minute drive from the hotel and boasts commanding views of the country. Yes I was quite proud of myself to be getting out and driving on my own to a place I had not yet been, using Irish directions from the web site such as "turn at the church" and my Google Maps App which actually DID locate the parking lot and guide me safely there and back. The roads were fine, but the last stint to the parking lot was a one-lane private road. It was thankfully fairly short and I didn't meet anyone coming back down the road. I found the lot and parked without incident.
I had a backpack, Steve's camera, an apple, and a bottle of water. I was wearing a sweatshirt, rain coat, rain pants, knit gloves, a knit head band, and hiking boots. I was all set!
This was my path from the parking lot to the bottom of the hill. It was fine for the most part, but as you can see, it was extremely wet when I started out. I got poured on when I was on the path and the water streamed down the hill like a river. My little gloves got soaked too!
Then as I continued it seemed to be clearing up a bit.
The path to get to the hill is a bit steep but not too hard to walk. This was a shot of the path looking back down from where I had come. You can see it is clearing up a bit and the water is pooling in flat areas on the path, not streaming down anymore.
You can see it it still raining in the distance, and yes, it did rain on me again as I climbed the hill, but it didn't last long.
As I climbed the hill, this was a view looking back down. The hill is quite steep. You follow the rocky path to a gate and then you go through the gate. It is designed to keep the livestock from getting down, but humans can go up. Once through the gate, there are some different paths one can take. I took one that seemed much more like the sheep path and it had a lot of drop-offs, steep sides, and well, droppings... Still, it was a climb but not an impossible climb and I am certain ewe can do it too!! Hahahaha!
This is Benbulben in the distance. I was hoping to climb it also, but it is a much longer trek, about 4 hours I have read, and I felt it wasn't one I wanted to do alone. Benbulben is a flat-topped mountain, as you can see, but can be quite dangerous as there are a lot of ridges and people have fallen to their death, so again, I would want to do that hike with company, not alone. As you may recall, it is "Under bare Ben Bulben's head" that Yeats is buried in a churchyard in Drumcliffe. This is, after all, Yeats Country.
That is the gate I had just walked through. You can also see the path I came up. The car park is down near the white building in the distance.
This is the bench you see upon coming through the gate.
Here I was just starting to see the Cairn. It was no longer raining and the sky over the hill was lovely!
At the top you can walk all around the Cairn and look at all the incredible views of the surrounding area. It is breathtakingly beautiful! It is sun and blue sky and clouds and rain and hills and farms and cows and sheep and ancient sites and myth and legend and it all comes together in this gorgeous hillside. It is so worth the adventure. I was all alone on the hill with my thoughts and the spiritual presence of Queen Maeve.
Okay, who is Queen Maeve? She is the Goddess and Mythical Queen of Connaught. In Irish her name would be Medb. Legend says she was a great warrior and could outrun horses and her mere presence on the battle-field would make the army invincible. It is also said that she had many sexual conquests and as many as five husbands over time. Was she real? Possibly a real person whose story took flight? Or maybe just a symbolic representation of sovereignty and the kings would "marry" her in ritual upon taking power.
At any rate, real or legend, Knocknarea is known as Queen Maeve's resting place. It is said that she is buried here under the Cairn standing up, in tribute to her status as a great warrior. The Cairn itself is believed to be a passage tomb like those of Knowth and Newgrange, but it has not been excavated. It is believed the Cairn was built around 2500 BC. It is 200 feet long and 40 feet high.
Folklore suggests that is it good luck to bring a stone to the cairn and leave it for Queen Maeve, and it is bad luck to remove a stone, bearing in mind that stories of her temper are, well, legendary! Also, there are signs posted that people are not to take stones or climb the Cairn, but people still do, apparently, though it would damage and erode the Cairn itself to do so.
Knocknarea is translated to mean The Hill of Kings or possibly The Hill of Storms - or apparently other variations - I was not able to really narrow it down in my research. One suggested it was The King of Hills - which would make sense, given it's status as the highest hill in Connaught. Yeats described Knocknarea as "The Land of Heart's Desire" and I think he was onto something with that description - as evidenced by my shots of the views from the top.
These are the waters of Sligo Bay and of the Atlantic Ocean in the distance.
Another view of Benbulben from the top of Knocknarea.
This is a smaller tomb also on the hill that is severely damaged.
And again, the passage tomb from the East side of the hill.
Okay, so based on the lovely scene and the peaceful prose, one would think that my stroll around the top was very quiet and still, but one would be wrong - VERY WRONG! The temperature wasn't too bad, in the mid-50's, but the WIND was unbelievable! We were apparently getting remnants of Hurricane Gonzalo, and it was 30 to 50 mph winds at the top of the hill. Just LOOK at my hair!!
Every time I wanted to take a picture, I had to brace myself so I wouldn't get blown over. Actually, as I was climbing up and it was getting more and more windy, I started to get almost giddy with being blown and buffeted about! I confess that at the top, I was laughing out loud all by myself, perhaps somewhat hysterically! I think the sheep down below were worried. I'm sure I saw some of them pointing and shaking their heads, but maybe it was the lack of oxygen...
Believe me, I was careful not to get close to edges where I could get blown over and hurt myself. I knew we were going to have the bad winds, but I had to go climb on the 21st or I wouldn't get to do it. It was exhilarating - and I live to tell the tale!
I did of course, bring a stone up the hill to place on Maeve's Cairn. Mine is the little one sitting on the larger stone in the bottom left of the picture. I brought it from Longford, and I believe it pleased her as I was able to walk all the way back down the hill, across the path and to my car with no more rain!
These next shots are ones I took as I went back down the hill. I took a different path than the way up. The information you find online about Knocknarea always includes warnings to be careful going back down. It can get quite slippy (that's how we say "slippery" in Ireland and it makes sense!) as it is usually wet and very very steep!
The little white spots are the sheep who were taunting me!
This shot looks down toward the gate and the path to the carpark.
It was a grand adventure and I am glad I did it! Invigorating and spiritual and steeped in the legends of my ancestors. I felt welcomed, like I belonged there. My day was complete, and it was only noon!
A final thought from Yeats in his poem, Red Hanrahan's Song About Ireland:
"The wind has bundled up the clouds high over Knocknarea,
And thrown the thunder on the stones, for all that Maeve can say."
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