Rest Day in Tipperary Town - off with the boots

Our rest day half way along the walk and what do we do but walk - this time without our boots and we take time out to act like a tourist.

A slow leisurely breakfast before we head to the Catholic Church to have a look, it is 10am and Mass is about to start and the church is nearly FULL, people and cars everywhere so give it a miss and head back to the main area to meet up with the Link bus which will take us to Cashel and the famous St Patrick’s Rock. While waiting it happens again and an Irish gentleman stops and starts to talk to us as if we are old friends, some people would call it flirting and it has happened several times. I didn’t realise Australians appeared so friendly – puts us into fits of laughter.

Cashel is about a 30-minute drive and the driver drops us – the only passengers – at the front door or in this case the front gate so we don’t have to walk up the smallish hill. The Rock of Cashel is one of Ireland’s historic sites and was the seat of Kings of Munster from 4 -11^th Centuries. There is still work being done on the castle, I believe it has been going on since 1980 so guess we will have to do some photo-shopping with our photos. It is bitterly cold and blowing a gale but still there are people there in short shorts and tee shirts. This cannot be Summer!!  The Cathedral replaces an earlier structure and the current building started in 1235, the Central Tower was added in the 14^th century and a strong Castle was built in the 15^th Century.  There are several 16^th century carved tombs in the Cathedral and without a roof most of it is open to the elements. We head to Cormac’s Chapel where the restoration work is being done, I am amazed that the public are allowed to touch the walls as it is so old and fragile.

Outside the views across the fields of different shades of green are magnificent and so clear – no fog or showers of rains but this could change very quickly. The large Celtic crosses dominate the graveyard with the pigeons and jackdaws claiming the high towers as their own. Beyond the stone walls of the Cathedral is the remains of another church sitting in the fields on its own.
Inside the buildings is a series of small museums and one houses a sand stone 12^th century St Patrick’s Cross.

We leave the Rock via the tourist shop and then wander down the hill to the village of Cashel swarming with tourists and traffic. St Dominic’s Friary ruins, the old Town Hall, Cashel Folk Village building with a variety of displays, Back of the Pipe with running water, ruins of Kearney’s Castle which is now a hotel, The Church of St Theresa with its amazing mosaics. We have a short time to fill in while we wait for the returning bus back to Tipperary.

Tomorrow is our 2^nd rest day and it will be just that to catch up on the paperwork or in this case computer work, diaries and washing so we have some clean clothes for the next section of the walk. This section of 5 days will be Tipperary to Ballevourney, about 125 klms and over some very hilly countryside and down into Cork – O’Sullivan country. For this section we have been issued with some maps so no guessing the tracks but we will be walking on our own and a variety of accommodation – hostels to hotels to B & Bs to an Inn. Should be interesting.

Contact will not be there in a lot of the smaller villages so I will sign off for the next week. See you in O’Sullivan land, our countryside.

St Patricks Cross