Stones of Ireland

I thought I'd show you some pics of my recent short trip to Ireland, not just because I got to spend a truly fabulous few days hanging out with a fellow smutwriter ...

Vida Bailey tells a filthy story ;-)

but also because the weather was AMAZING - and OMG it's a beautiful country:

The monastic valley of Glendalough

 

These 100ft-tall Rapunzel-like towers were built from the C9th as refuges from the Vikings. 

That's the door.

Architecture got a bit less vertical as the centuries wore on:

This is Powerscourt, which has the best name of any stately home ever

... and possibly the best view

We didn't roam far from the Dublin area, so we visited the Neolithic Necessities. This is the passage-grave at Newgrange, built in 3200 BCE:

No wheels, no draught animals ... but no Netflix either, so what else was there to do?

The entrance skylight is aligned with the Winter Solstice, sending a beam of light down the tomb for a few minutes each year:

Near Newgrange is the slightly younger site of Knowth (only 2000 BCE) which deserves to be better-known because it is quite surreal:

Tombs of the Tellytubbies!

There are eighteen gravemounds here. This is a glimpse down the longest passage:

Turn wight at the far end, hahah ... Sorry, spontaneous D&D pun there.

But it wouldn't be an Ashbless neolithic holiday without some suggestive-looking artifacts, so BEHOLD The Stone of Destiny on the Hill of Tara!

It was supposed to let out a roar at the touch of the rightful High King of Ireland...

I have no further comment to make

And here's a lovely Stone-Age dildo:

Because the Past may be a foreign country, but everyone loves a rock hard knob :-)