dublin

Fuchsia thrives all over the place in Ireland.

A little 'corner' shop still survives despite large supermarkets not far away.

A garden snail goes for a wander, all that rain keeps everything damp and green.

An hour or so drive out of Dublin is Newgrange. It's a Megalithic Passage Tomb built about 3200 BC (so it is older than the pyramids at Giza). The 19 metre long inner passage leads to a cruciform chamber with a corbelled roof. It is estimated that the construction of the Passage Tomb at Newgrange would have taken a work force of 300 at least 20 years. The passage and chamber of Newgrange are illuminated by the winter solstice sunrise and we visited at summer solstice so nothing exciting happened but we did get rained on while the guide was giving us a brief history of Newgrange. For winter solstice a shaft of sunlight shines through the roof box over the entrance and penetrates the passage to light up the chamber. It lasts for 17 minutes at dawn on the Winter Solstice and for a few mornings either side of the Winter Solstice.