McAWilliams Photoblog

Sorry about the delay in this image coming up but we have been a bit bogged down with stuff, Paula’s aunt is in a critical condition in hospital at the moment, because of three aneurysms been found after she had a stroke. Also our house seems to have unwanted visitors at the moment, ants, and not crawling along the floor but coming out from the spotlights on our ground floor, so its been fun trying to tackle them.

Anyhow this is a photograph of the new, still unopened, pedestrian bridge that connects Bray to Enniskerry. It spans across the N11 dual carraigeway and looks fantastic as it goes from one side to the other with no supports except at each end.

Technorati Tags Bray, bridge, enniskerry, n11, pedestrian bridge

This is my new walkway home from work since I found a new bus route to take me home that saves me 40 minutes commuting. More can be found about this amazing bus service over at another blog I contribute to.

Technorati Tags commuting, forest, pathway

Another photograph taken down at Bray Seafront, this time while summer fest 2007 was on. Bray holds this event every summer during the month of July. It all starts with a huge fireworks display and concerts. The concerts keep going throughout the month aswell as a large funfair down on the promenade itself.

This big wheel has been a huge feature of the festival for many many years, and has even made its way to this photoblog before, way back in 2005 when I witnessed the dodgy wheel for the first time, alas this is the last time Bray will witness it as it shall never return again.

Technorati Tags big wheel, bray summerfest, cliff, festival

This was a huge branch that was washed up on Bray seafront. As soon as I saw it I just had to get a shot of it, I hope you enjoy it.

Technorati Tags beach, Bray, driftwood, seafront

Would you like a view like this?

Would you like to know that you can!

This is the view from my parents house in Killeshin Co. Laois, 5 minutes from Carlow town, and they are selling up. They have a view that goes on for 50 miles that takes in Carlow town, the Barrow Valley and the Wicklow Mountains.

All this can be yours for less then 400,000 Euro, thats a bargain.

Technorati Tags carlow, House for sale, killeshin, laois, panorama

Lesson 4 from the Irish National heritage park brings us to some very early dwellings known as a crannog. A crannóg is an ancient artificial island or natural island in Ireland, used for a settlement. The name may also refer to a wooden platform erected on shallow lough floors, but understandably few remains of this sort have been found. The name crannóg derives from crannoge, from Middle Irish crannóc, from Old Irish, from crann, tree.

The choice of an island as a home is thought to have been for defence and for the availability of food in the form of fish nearby. The crannog could be reached from the nearest shore by means of a causeway built up with stones, or a wooden gangway built atop raised piles.

I have one or two more pictures to put up from this fantastic visitor attraction, but I shall try not to continue giving lessons and let you enjoy the pictures instead.

Oh by the way that is Paula and Rebecca exiting the crannog after going in for a snooze.

All the above historical facts taken from Wikipedia.

Technorati Tags crannog, ferrycarraig, irish national heritage park, paula williams, rebecca williams, wexford

History lesson number 3. This my dear visitors is a dolmen in the Irish National Heritage Park.

this quote from Wikipedia explains all.

A Dolmen is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of three or more upright stones (megaliths) supporting a large flat horizontal capstone (table). Most date from the early Neolithic period (4000 BC to 3000 BC). Dolmens were usually covered with earth or smaller stones to form a barrow, though in many cases that covering has weathered away, leaving only the stone ’skeleton’ of the burial mound intact.

The largest dolmen in Europe is the Browneshill Dolmen in County Carlow, Ireland. It’s capstone weighs about 150 tonnes.
For lesson 4 tomorrow I shall be teaching you all about Crannogs.

Technorati Tags dolmen, ferrycarraig, irish national hertiage park, wexford