On our way back to Dublin, we stopped in at Brú na Bóinne, the new visitor’s centre for the Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth passage graves in the Boyne Valley. It was quite odd to have this hi-tech centre and a pedestrianised suspension bridge in the middle of verdant cattle fields. But that’s the nature of European Union funding for you; it must be spent somehow, someway.
Newgrange was quite cold, but it is always a marvel to see this passage tomb that is older than the Egyptian pyramids and older and more advanced by far than Stonehenge, its more famous cousin in Britain.
When we arrived at Dublin, I headed on the new M-50 ringroad motorway around the city to drop off McDow in Leixlip, where he was heading to stay with some family friends.
Unfortunately, on the way back, I got stuck in rush hour Dublin in the tiny Micra we had rented. What’s worse, I nearly ran out of petrol. However, Tom and I made it as far as the airport no bother. Then, we had to grab a bus back to the city centre and head to Connolly Station to catch a train down to Wexford – quite a lengthy process, at the end of the day. And so it was that we arrived, tired and beleaguered, at 26 High Street, at around 21:30.
Had some dinner and Tom and Gran began chatting away about politics, thus hitting it off right away.
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