Ireland: Day 4 – Monday, July 2, 2007

Today I got up early to go to the genealogy center here in Sligo. They do not offer any free services, and no longer offer the “same-day” research service or the family crest creation still listed on their website. They will, however, give you an application to fill out and mail back to them if you want them to do your research for you.

The public library in town does offer free genealogy research for you to do on your own, but I cycled over there and they were of course closed on Mondays. So I went on over to the bus station to look up the last bus to Dublin on Thursday. The last bus 23 leaves at 6:10pm, and you have to switch over to a 22 at Longford.

From here I went on over to IT Sligo in hopes of what we in America would call a “campus visit.” There is no such thing here. You’re welcome to walk around on your own and the “reception” will help you out a little, but there’s no one to talk to about things. The department heads weren’t even around seeing as how it’s summer and they’re doing a bunch of construction on the place. They have several computer labs, but the computer majors are classified under the business department instead of the engineering department. They have a café that sells coffee, tea, and fruits but no smoothies. There is wireless Internet, but you need to be a student to use either the computer labs or the wireless. There is a student union with a nurse and a shop, but the shop was closed. There were no classes going on that I could sit in on, but from my perspective it just doesn’t seem like a good working atmosphere. There’s housing on campus but it is managed by an outside firm, and I wonder what outrageous price they would charge for Internet if it was available at all in your dorm. The whole feeling about the place is that it’s a commuter campus, maybe even catering to adults more so than college-aged students. I have decided that although they offer the four-year web development program that I’ve always looked for, the place just isn’t for me. The atmosphere just isn’t right.

After lunch I went to the Internet café and got in touch with everyone. I followed this by some portions of the Two Bird Mountain Tour as laid out in the aforementioned guide book. Heading east along the River Garavogue from the city center I came to Doorly Park, a beautiful stretch along the river. It has a flat walking trail that extends for a good ways through the woodland canopy directly next to the river wetlands. The water was a very clear blue, lending credence to the guide book’s comment: “the water quality is so good that it complies with the most stringent of water quality regulations.” At the end of the trail there is no way back to the main road, so you either have to turn back or do as I did and dodge sheep paddies and climb over a few fences while making your way through a large field. Here I came upon the Sligo Regional Sports Center, which offers a public pool at certain times of the day (the schedule changes weekly). I might head back over there later in the week. It costs 4 euro for a student to swim there and you don’t have to be a resident or anything.

I continued along the tour and stopped at a “car-park … (easy to miss) on right” like the guide said but there was nothing there. It was supposed to be Carns Forest but all I could see was a gated off open field with a running track or trail, as one jogger was visible. There simply weren’t enough trees to be a forest, so maybe I was at the wrong car-park but I saw no other one as I continued further. I also somehow missed the turn-off for the detour to the viewing point over the Lough Gill lake. There was good downhill road for the rest of the stretch to Tobernalt Holy Well. Just as I pulled up a tour bus also pulled up and unloaded a group of older people who spoke another language but they didn’t stay for too long. The well area was interesting, with shrines to the Christian religious symbols and a number of miracle markers. During the Penal Laws when the Catholic religion was outlawed, mass would be held here in secret. Apparently the whole thing was borrowed from the pagans though, as they performed rituals here in the pre-Christian era. There is another legend concerning St. Patrick here, that the indents on the erratic boulder are where he laid his hand. It’s said that you can rest you’re back against this rock to obtain a cure for a backache, and that the water from the well has cures for eyesight and headaches. The sign says not to drink it, but I saw one pilgrim make the sign of the cross using it, as it is holy water after all.

On down the road I went left on R287 and skipped the Dooney Rock and Slish Wood hiking trails to make it on to Castleore Stone Fort since it was getting late in the evening. The one lane road leading to it is a rocky stone path, so I left my bike at the turn-off and walked the rest of the way. It’s a nice example of a cashel but nothing too impressive. On my way out I decided to stand on one of the large rocks in the center of the circle and low and behold I was greeted by my first Irish rainbow to the east. This marked the end of my evening and I took R287 all the way back to N4 and Sligo. It started raining as I left the turn-off to the cashel, and by about half way to Sligo it was really pouring down. I was absolutely soaked when I got to the hostel.