Sunday 6th May

Athlone to Slade. And no internet at our overnight stop.
A chance conversation with some fellow campers in the pub last night directed us to Trim. The castle was used in the film Brave heart and as it's managed by the Office of Public Works we can use our English Heritage membership.

We have time to explore the ground before the tour, which is the only way to access the tower for a good view of a number of counties. And it's a nice day with a very good guide who told us about the original builder, Baron de Lacey, accidentally losing his head by taking on an Irish man's axe, twice!
A very interesting piece of information was the use of the gard robe, or toilet in s dressing room. Apparently the fumes from agitated human waste was used to fumigate clothing. In medieval times prior only bathed a couple of times a year, hence clothing had lots of insects living in them.

Then on to Tara and it's hill. It's Sunday, it's a bank holiday, it's sunny! We thought we may not be able to park, but we found a spot, although an ice-cream van nearly prevented us getting out. This is another national monument dating back millennia.

It's said that many Kings of Ireland we crowned here, it has stunning views and no restrictions on access, apart from a burial chamber which might collapse.

The views are amazing and because of the lovely weather we can see miles, even if we don't know what we are seeing.


This it turns out is a cement works 11.5 miles away and is visible from the hill - I have a good zoom on my camera.