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Grandhoo

@grandhoo.bsky.social

120 followers 130 following 190 posts

Marlin's grandhoo, infection control RN, musician, genealogist, lover of history, Ireland, British Isles, ruins, Legend of Zelda, empathy. Mom of 2 beautiful, smart, wonderful grown girls. Wife to Fuzzhoo. That is still not my picture up there.

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Grandhoo

@grandhoo.bsky.social

... and finally, back to Portstewart 4/4

April 26, 2025 at 7:11 PM

Grandhoo

@grandhoo.bsky.social

From there, we traveled to the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge 3/4

April 26, 2025 at 7:11 PM

Grandhoo

@grandhoo.bsky.social

... and then on to the Giant's Causeway. You may recognize this rock formation as the scene on the cover of Led Zeppelin's Houses of the Holy album. 2/4

April 26, 2025 at 7:11 PM

Grandhoo

@grandhoo.bsky.social

#Ireland #Travel #NorthernIreland
Day 16 ... Northern Ireland

After leaving Malin Head on day 15, we took the Lough Foyle Ferry and headed to our accommodation in Portstewart, NI. The next day, we visited Dunluce Castle in Bushmills. 1/4

April 26, 2025 at 7:11 PM

Grandhoo

@grandhoo.bsky.social

Day 15, continued - Donegal
9-12. Malin Head (Irish: Cionn Mhálanna)

March 26, 2025 at 9:02 PM

Grandhoo

@grandhoo.bsky.social

Day 15, continued - Donegal
5. Holy Well of St. Patrick at Grianan of Aileach - In legend it was where St. Patrick baptized Prince Eoghan
6. Panoramic view from the Grianan
7. Inside the Grianan of Aileach
8. 19th-century graffiti

March 26, 2025 at 9:02 PM

Grandhoo

@grandhoo.bsky.social

More Ireland trip photos:

Day 15: County Donegal
1. Doonalt, Glencolumbkille
2-3. Grianan of Aileach, Inishowen - constructed some time before AD 800
4. View from Grianan of Aileach looking towards Inch Island

March 26, 2025 at 9:02 PM

Grandhoo

@grandhoo.bsky.social

Tragically, maddeningly, terrifyingly, heart-breakingly true.

March 21, 2025 at 3:23 PM

Grandhoo

@grandhoo.bsky.social

What. The actual. Fluff?

March 6, 2025 at 9:30 PM

Grandhoo

@grandhoo.bsky.social

This was written by my cousin, Kathy Kelly Griffin.

March 3, 2025 at 4:15 PM

Grandhoo

@grandhoo.bsky.social

Day 14, continued ...

9. Inside a cave at Maghera Strand
10. Killybegs
11. Lug na Druan, Doonalt
12. View from Mailinbeg Hostel

February 26, 2025 at 3:51 AM

Grandhoo

@grandhoo.bsky.social

Day 14, continued ...

5. The Glengesh Pass (Malaidh Ghleann Gheis - The Glen of the Swans)
6. Eas a' Ranca (Assaranca) Waterfall, Meentashask, Co Donegal
7. Maghera Beach, Ardara, Co. Donegal at low tide
8. One of the Maghera Beach caves

February 26, 2025 at 3:51 AM

Grandhoo

@grandhoo.bsky.social

#Ireland #IrelandTrip #Travel

Day 14

1. Killybegs Harbor (en route to Brú na Málaínn Bíge, Co. Donegal)
2. An Trá Bhán (Silver Strand), Málaínn Bíge
Standing stones:
3. Glencolmcille Turas Cholmcille Stad 9, Clo'n Aoineach (The stone of the gathering)
4. Glencolmcille Turas Cholmcille Stad 2

Located on the beautiful rugged Slieve League peninsula, Glencolumbkille has a history in stone going back over 5,000 years. The Turas (pilgrimage/journey) dates back to the early Christian period and takes place each year on the 9th of June. There are 15 stations on the Turas and some of these stations are pre-christian sites.
This standing stone is station 9 on the pilgrimage route. It is a holed pillar stone decorated on the north-west face. There are three circular motifs, connected by an incised gutter. The circle at the top is the width of the stone and inside it is an equal armed geometric cross. The perforation is in the center of the cross. Traditionally, engaged couples would stand one either side of the stone and entwine their fingers through the hole. This was a symbol of their engagement and the ceremony would be watched by a large gathering of people (Aonach). Here the pilgrim circles the cairn three times whilst praying. They would then put their back to the 6-foot-tall pillar stone and renounce the world, the flesh and the devil.

The approximately 1.85 m tall schist pillar stone is beautifully decorated on both sides. The eastern side bares rectilinear patterns while the western side patterns are slightly more freeform. At the base of the pillar stone are the remains of a Leacht, a dry stone altar. The prominence of this outcrop suggests it may have been a sacred place to pagans. It was probably Christianised with the addition of this pillar stone.

February 26, 2025 at 3:51 AM

Grandhoo

@grandhoo.bsky.social

Day 13, continued ... Yeats country

5. Ben Bulben (Binn Ghulbain) Mountain
6-7. The spectacular Gleniff Horseshoe, on the northern side of the Dartry Mountains
8. Dolmen tomb at the side of the road as you exit the Gleniff Horseshoe area

Ben Bulben Mountain, a large flat-topped nunatak rock formation in County Sligo, Ireland. It is part of the Dartry Mountains, in an area sometimes called "Yeats Country".

But for Ben Bulben and Knocknarea,
Many a poor sailor'd be cast away.
- William Butler Yeats

The Gleniff Horseshoe, near Ballintrillick, County Sligo, is a small single lane 10km route brimming with breathtaking scenery as the Dartry Mountains tower above you on either side. Two of the mountains in this mountain range include Benbulben and Truskmore.

February 23, 2025 at 8:04 AM

Grandhoo

@grandhoo.bsky.social

#Ireland #IrelandTrip #Travel

Day 13

1. Dolmen tomb at Carrowmore (An Cheathrú Mhór) Megalithic Cemetery on the Coolera (Cúil Íorra) Peninsula, Co. Sligo
2. Carrowmore Tomb No. 7, aka "The Kissing Stone", a classic open-air passage grave
3. Glencar Waterfall, Co. Leitrim
4. The road from Glencar

Dolmen tomb (ring of several rocks topped by a larger lintel rock) in a green field. In the background can be seen Ben Bulben Mountain.

Carrowmore (Irish: An Cheathrú Mhór, 'the great quarter') is a large group of megalithic monuments on the Coolera Peninsula to the west of Sligo, Ireland. They were built in the 4th millennium BC, during the Neolithic (New Stone Age). There are thirty surviving tombs, making Carrowmore one of the largest clusters of megalithic tombs in Ireland, and one of the 'big four' along with Carrowkeel, Loughcrew and Brú na Bóinne. Carrowmore is the heart of an ancient ritual landscape which is dominated by the mountain of Knocknarea to the west. It is a protected National Monument.

It is believed that the Carrowmore monuments were built by a colony of very early farmers who arrived in Ireland, most likely from the Carnac region in west France, arriving here by about 4150 BC.

The Kissing Stone is a classic "tertre", an early open air passage grave. A complete circle of thirty-two large boulders, measuring thirteen meters in diameter surrounds platform supporting the monument. The platform here is scarped or scraped into the side of the hill. The inner circle of smaller stones eight and a half meters in diameter, indicates that the monument was free-standing, and was never covered with a cairn. The circle containing a raised earthen platform or tertre within the boulder ring is a common design feature consistantly used in the construction of the Carrowmore monuments.

The impressively graceful capstone is huge, and balances effortlessly upon the points of three upright chamber stones. The five sided chamber is a spacious area compared to most of the other Carrowmore dolmens. The entrance opens eastwards, aligned, according to Frank Prendergast, towards the equinox sunrise as it appears over Carns Hill four kilometers east of Carrowmore. All of the monuments at Carrowmore function individually as sundials, with the capstones projecting shadows onto the boulder circles and inner rings or circles.

Glencar Waterfall, a 50-foot high cascade of rushing water tumbling gracefully into a pool surrounded by lush greenery.

Where the wandering water gushes
From the hills above Glen-Car,
In pools among the rushes
That scarce could bathe a star,
We seek for slumbering trout
And whispering in their ears
Give them unquiet dreams;
Leaning softly out
From ferns that drop their tears
Over the young streams.
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.
- from "The Stolen Child" by William Butler Yeats

February 23, 2025 at 8:04 AM

Grandhoo

@grandhoo.bsky.social

Day 12, continued ...

5. Cliffs at the Céide Fields, Ballycastle, Co. Mayo
6. Knockaun, on the way to Downpatrick Head
7. Dún Briste Sea Stack at Downpatrick Head
8. Downpatrick Head, along the Wild Atlantic Way

February 23, 2025 at 5:50 AM

Grandhoo

@grandhoo.bsky.social

#Ireland #IrelandTrip #Travel

Day 12

1. Morning at Ar mBriongloid Bed and Breakfast, Keel, Achill Island, Co. Mayo
2. And this, my friends, is what is known as a Full Irish Breakfast.
3. The deserted village at Slievemore mountain.
4. Keel Strand (aka Trawmore Beach)

Full Irish Breakfast: Fried eggs, "bacon" (aka in the US as Canadian bacon), sausage, tomatoes, potatoes, black and white "pudding", beans, juice, coffee or tea. I admit being taken aback by beans at breakfast. And, public service announcement: American and Irish understandings of what constitutes "pudding" diverge significantly. Everything, however, was delicious.

February 23, 2025 at 5:50 AM

Grandhoo

@grandhoo.bsky.social

Day 11 continued

5. Fairy Tree at Killary Fjord
6. Croagh Patrick - Westport, Co. Mayo
7. National Famine Memorial
8. Owenduff, en route to our destination, Achill Island

February 22, 2025 at 5:36 AM

Grandhoo

@grandhoo.bsky.social

Posting more from our #IrelandTrip2016 #Travel

Day 11 - Galway

1. Salthill Promenade
2. The Road Goes Ever On ... Clifden, Co. Galway
3. Kylemore Abbey
4. Pollacapall Lough at Kylemore Abbey

February 22, 2025 at 5:36 AM

Grandhoo

@grandhoo.bsky.social

And I have my sweet boy, Marlin @marlingoldador.bsky.social. What in the world would I do without him? Is there anything better in this world than a loyal, earnest, faithful, devoted dog to give your love to?

The answer is no. There is not.

February 13, 2025 at 10:28 PM

Grandhoo

@grandhoo.bsky.social

LOL - He liked to think that he looked like Paul Newman! I think he looked a bit like a young Paul Newman with a bit of James Dean thrown in for good measure in his younger days.