Come on in and I will put on the kettle....

Portumna to Moneygall   

The early morning is cool and misty, not sure if it is rain or something else. We organise our own breakfast and head out the front gate, sad to leave this lovely home and owner. We backtrack through the town to the Shannon River and across the bridge with the strange pillars and we are now in Tipperary County on the Ormond Way. The waters of the Shannon are still with shadows stretching across its width with only a few morning birds taking in the quiet times, coloured rowing boats moored along the edges. The first six or so kilometres are on a main N road, busy for this time of the day and not relaxing. Makes us walk a little faster. The haymaking season is well under way and my hay fever has also arrived. We hit the back roads. Beware of the Deer signs start to appear. We see signs to Lothra and Menagh but we are bypassing the towns. Feral cats play in the farmyard shed areas and the nose ringed bulls glare at us over the low fences as we walk past. White blossoms shine on old twisted apple trees sitting in the fields, roses and shrubs in the borders of the farm houses and close to the kitchen doors, empty flower pots sitting waiting, a bird table with a few seeds scattered on its flat surface. We stop for a short break at a park in the very small village of Carrigahorig, a small brook bubbling close by.

Our first coffee stop of the day is Aglish, a village with a tree lined entrance but – you guessed right – no coffee shop. We ask a lady who is on the side of the road for directions – Come on in and I will put on the kettle -we take her up on the offer so we can get the boots off for a while. This lovely English lady owns a Self-Catering Pub and The World of Fairies Workshop business on the side of the road into the village. An hour later we leave her company. Next door is the Village Inn opened in 1827 and still operating. The village consists of a few houses, St Michael’s greystoned church and the usual wayside Grottos where we stop to put on our jumpers as the day has turned cold, this could very easily change. Hanging over the stone fences are some small apple trees, not sure if they are ornamental or edible fruit. The Dogs on Duty at the gates, the Bug Hotels in the outside corner gardens and soon we are on the outskirts of Ballingarry, the N52 running through the centre of a very deserted village.  We head to Noonan’s Bar, the only business which appears to be open – or is it?

The weather has changed and it is now quite warm so we find some shade on the side of the busy road and ring Patricia, the owner from our next B & B, “Sweet Al Obahama” situated on the outskirts of Ballingarry village. Patricia has offered to collect us and take us to our bed near Moneygall. It appears we are going to have a long wait as she has a prior engagement which will take several hours. There is a pub across the road but they are not open until much later in the day, late openings are common in this part of Ireland. We locate a chair each from the hotel beer garden and make ourselves comfortable on the footpath in front of the business, book in hand and we wait and watch the heavy traffic go past on this busy road. The owner is on the roof doing repairs and takes pity on these Australian girls and brings us out a very chilly cider. Hit the spot and would not let us pay as we are from Brisbane where his son now lives. We have found through talking to people that a complete Irish Generation has moved to Australia or Canada.

We sit for about three hours and suddenly a little red car pulls up with a very energetic lady, our contact for the next couple of nights.  A twin room is only €35 per night per person. The accommodation is a semi- detached house, in need of some repairs but we have our own bedrooms, ensuite and a stocked kitchen so what else could we want.  More than adequate. A night meal has been organised as we are a little way out of the village and after the meal she decides we will all go for a drive to show us the area. Moneygall is where President Obama’s ancestor originally lived so there is a lot of American memorabilia around the village and area.

Patricia and her friend, Bridget, turn up, both appear very excited, my hay fever is playing up so it should be an interesting evening. We drive out through some beautiful countryside, past a field where O’Sullivan and his people camped when in the area, the ancient Annameadle Graveyard housing the ivy-covered chapel remains and some interesting headstones perched high on the hillside gleaming in the sunset. We visit the ancient Latteragh Graveyard and the ruins of the Latteragh Parish Church. History marks this area as the location of the ancient village of Letter, the monastery and school of St Odhran and the medieval village of Latteragh. We are given an escort to the graveyard by a black and white collie farm dog that bounds among the white capped headstones and large Celtic crosses, in and out of the ruins. We have checked out most of the headstones and pieces of rock searching for the O’Sullivan name. It is so peaceful looking down into the green valley. One last stop and we are starting to droop. Onto Roscrea to see the magnificent church, monastery and private boarding school of Mount St Joseph’s. There are many people and hooded Trappist Monks walking around the grounds under the ancient trees and bushes. This is Patricia’s Parish Church. We turn for home about 10pm into the setting sun, a welcome bed awaits us. It has been a long day or perhaps we are just becoming exhausted and only half way there.

Today’s walk has taken us 21klms over some lovey countryside.