"An Ancient Muse" - Loch an Duin

This whole day have I followed in the rocks,

And you have changed and flowed from shape to shape,

First as a raven on whose ancient wings

Scarcely a feather lingered, then you seemed

A weasel moving on from stone to stone,

And now at last you wear a human shape,

A thin grey man half lost in gathering night.

Fergus and the Druid - W.B. Yeats

Welcome one and all to The Art of Caesura!

Today I have a very special post for you. I mentioned in the birthday post a couple weeks ago that I want to re-introduce some non-miniatures-based content back into the blog. I'm going to try to post photos every now and then from the monthly hikes that my wife and I go on. We really are lucky to live in one of the most amazing places so I'd love to share it with you!

Our first hike of the new year was to a mystical valley drenched in history, folklore and...rain! Here's what the local tourist board has to say about it:

The Loch a'Dúin valley near Cloghane contains the most remarkable series of monuments from the Bronze Age. In this valley of 1,500 acres, there are 90 stone structures dating from 2500 BC up to modern times. Running like a web throughout the landscape are several miles of stonewall, hidden by peat, which has accumulated over the past 3,000 years. From archaeological excavations and pollen studies, it has become clear that the Loch a'Dúin Valley was used for intensive agriculture, both pastoral and arable, from 1600 BC to the beginning of the Iron Age. During this time habitation huts, fulachta fiadh, standing stones and enclosures were erected to house both humans and animals. Even earlier is the wedge tomb and the cup and circle rock art (of which there are nine examples), making it the largest concentration on the Dingle Peninsula. The level of preservation is due to the protective cover of the bog, which completely covered the landscape. It is during modern turf cutting that the ancient remains are uncovered

- gokerry.ie

But that's not all...We actually did this hike a couple of years ago, on a really sunny and auspicious day.

Daithi, a local archeology enthusiast, after hiking in this valley for 15 years, found that the megalithic passage tomb (the Giant's Grave) was built in such a way that on the Winter Equinox, the sun sets right in the notch between the peaks of two mountains, and shines straight into the entrance of the passage tomb, reflecting off the water at the bottom and illuminating cup and circle markings inside the tomb! It's right out of Indiana Jones.

Anyway, we joined up with him the equinox and were transported back in time...