Destination Ireland - Summer 2021 - Destination Focus
water and , after once more disembarking my craft - this time slightly more elegantly , let ’ s say with the balance of a newborn fawn after a few beers - I had to find out more about the spectacular geology of The Cavan Burren and travelled towards Blacklion to the interpretive centre there . Our entertaining guide , Seamus , lives and breathes this ancient site , and the wealth of his knowledge of the often mysterious history of this relic landscape was mind-boggling . There is a great range of trails suitable for all the family to explore , and the , ahem , tall tales of the giants that legend tells us inhabited the area will fascinate you . Some may even be true . But what ’ s not in question is the raw , natural beauty of the area . What occasionally seems like a pile of stones or a mere rock wall turns into something quite different on closer inspection . The little circular indentations in these megalithic stones turned out to be ancient rock art , often complemented by embedded fossils making their own designs , and the flattened walls bookending the forest trails were carefully cultivated quarries that those early settlers used for making stone tools . These farmers of a bygone era were evidently highly skilled in using the fruits of the landscape to benefit their very civilised existence . Archaeologists have flocked here in their droves in recent years as they try to piece together the missing bits of the puzzle , but let ’ s just say they don ’ t always agree . I chuckle when Seamus tells me his collective noun for a group of archaeologists : an ‘ argument ’. The Shannon is , of course , more associated with the west of the country than Cavan . It ’ s starting point , however , is just around the corner from the Cavan Burren at the Shannon Pot . At first glance it just looks like an innocuous little pool , but that shallow , trickling trout stream emerging from it soon becomes the behemoth that runs through the heart of Ireland right down to the Shannon Estuary in the West . Legend has it Sionnan , the goddess of beauty and love who gives the river its name , came here to eat the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge . But munching on forbidden fruit is never a good idea - and the waters of the pool burst forward and claimed her .
Sunset Kayaking on Lough Oughter
Slieve Russell Hotel
Murph ’ s Bistro
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