The Rock of Cashel, in County Tipperary, is the ancient seat of the kings of Munster and has been a stronghold since at least the Bronze Age. Supposedly St. Patrick himself baptized the King on these grounds and as the legend has it, while preaching his homily, he became a little animated and kept stabbing his crozier into the ground for emphasis. Except it wasn’t the ground. It was the king’s foot. Thinking this was part of the ritual, the king endured this mishap without complaint. Just down the hill from the castle are the ruins of Hore Abby. They too, are an interesting subject for photography. The sky that evening was nothing to get excited about but we could always hope for better light in the morning.

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The Above is the view from the Abbey, which appeared to be infested with Little People. They were everywhere you looked
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Next morning the sunrise was decent enough to get some color and it would prove to be the best we would get on the trip. I’ve noticed on my various photo expeditions to Ireland that epic sunrises are hard to come by. The clouds seem to form up before dawn and obscure the horizon, not burning off until an hour or so after sunrise. The Abbey had pretty good light too. And the cows came home.

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_8502653-Edit The Abby grounds are a popular place for dog walking. We met Caesar, an American Bulldog, taking his man on their morning jaunt.

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Once the sun was high it was time to head south. Just ouside of Cashel was the village of Golden. It has a cool bridge and the ruins of a guard tower. I’d never seen this place mentioned in my research. A fine example of the kind of thing one stumbles across in Ireland all the time.

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Kinsale, in County Cork, would be our destination for the night but we decided to go by way of Castle Cahir, just before leaving Co Tipperary.  It was worth the stop. It is a major Norman castle built on an island in the River Suir and it is right in town. We had lunch in a lovely café just across the road.

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Then on to Kinsale and Galley Head Lighthouse.