Motorcycle Explorer June 2015 Issue 6 | Page 66

Newgrange (www.newgrange.com) Newgrange contains various examples of abstract Neolithic art and once a year, at the winter solstice, the rising sun shines directly along the extensive passage, illuminating the inner chamber and revealing the carvings inside. Excavations revealed deposits of both burnt and unburnt human bone in the passage, indicating human corpses were placed within it. The monument is part of a series of sites that are interconnected, including Knowth and Dowth, but we had visited Knowth the last time we were here, and as Newgrange is usually frenetic we left behind the Brú na Bóinne to travel southwards to another ancient site, the Hill of Tara. The ride down was on single large roads, although we stopped on the way out of Drogheda for a coffee, the strong summer sun burning the top of my [sadly hairless] head. It was here that I was able to take some excess coolant out of the header tank with the help of a catheter syringe, a straw and my friend Kivi (three things I hope never to mention, or have the need to mention in the same sentence again!). The trees lining the roads provided periods of welcome relief from the sunshine, as my back armour and t-shirt had begun to stick to me. At this point, the roads were all smooth ‘A’ routes, but as we turned off for Tara on a tarmacked track, we were greeted by a more hectic scene. Tara usually has events planned over the summer solstice (although as I mentioned above it is something of a misnomer as it wasn’t used for the longest day), so it was busy with campers, tents and makeshift shelters, although one shelter had a small pot-bellied stove and the turf he was burning was exceptionally acrid. The whole complex is over a massive scale: