Carrick-on-Where?

 How lovely to be staying in a place with coloured towels and flowers on the coverlet. We are in regional Leitrim, just over the border from Roscommon. The rooms are small, a bit of Tetris to shower, clean face and teeth by opening and closing doors. It is small and cosy and quite relaxing. We have everything we need. I slept all night again. I actually did miss much most of Roscommon as I might have slept part of the drive.

Irish B&Bs were lovely. The wife cooked and the husband served. Our waiter was Sean (or James) and he hovered sensitively. The breakfasts were great, whether the standard Irish Breakfast or omelette with salmon. Delicious. I would have like two eggs but I only got that with my Scottish Breakfast. Actually the two dishes are identical except that they added haggis! Yes really. Instead of black and white pudding. I loved black pudding and tomato sauce as a kid.

See a picture of my Scottish Breakfast at the end of this post.

 

I got to use this lovely sitting room on our second night in Carrick-On-Shannon, when I chose not to get another restaurant meal - and missed great Irish street singing!

To compensate, TV and a few history books. I discovered that Hugh McTernan was one of the landowners compensated by the English Government after Cromwell took away his lands.

(Hugh is the name of Kelly’s immigrant ancestor, and lovely to see this continuity). More details below.

While I slept on route, I am sure there was a lot of green, stone walled fields, sheep more than cows but they are big cows, and a ruined house every 2.7 kms. The latter is in their EU grant conditions. This B&B was upgraded with an EU grant but we all know the charm of ruined buildings. Sadly since most of the roads have 100km/hour speed limits, I am not capturing many on my camera. But I am drawn to them - that’s why they must stay.

As John of Feakle told us “the Irish like to build new, but every other nationality likes to renovate the old buildings”. This is no back water, although there is water and it is popular sailing holiday destination. Our meal last night had goats cheese, beef rib, salted caramel mousse etc etc. 

Today we go to Drumkeeran to look for McTiernans. They were early residents of Burra, quite fertile (17 kids) and take up most of Michelago Cemetery. Kelly’s other early Burra residents were the McNamaras, with the London Bridge property and Katy Flats. The McTiernans were at Hill Top - all names still in use today and not far from Geordie’s home. The unremarkable thing is that the McTiernans joined the McNamaras within a generation of immigration.

We knew that the McTernans were from Drumkeerin. So we drove there, only two places to get food and drinks from despite half a dozen outlets existed (most not operating). Kelly went to the Post Office where the young officer informed her that her mother was a McTernan. Kelly spoke to Paddy McTernan there on the spot. We knocked on a random house in the country, the owner was related to a McTernan within two generations.

Street scene of Drumkeeran, and above. It was an overcast day.I thought it was a lovely little town, although quite a few stores and businesses were closed. 

There were just two places to eat, “Lucy’s” ( a polish lady apparently, and a corner store where the worker made our sandwiches - Kelly does prefer just made, not pre-packed. I visited their MARBLE LINED BATHROOM. REALLY. I am very impressed with Irish plumbing overall. Good flush and so much variety in how to operate the taps.

All told we went to five cemeteries, always told of another one every time we stopped to ask for directions. We needed to recall that Loch Allen was near Mount Allen (now a power station), and Hugh McTernan - he who came to Australia - named his property Mount Allen. It is in Burra, Australia still, about to become a residential estate.

We found McTernans, because they are everywhere, but not THE headstone of a John McTernan and Julia Groves, suggested as possible parents of Hugh. One graveyard had just been whippersnipped, allowing us to actually read them. The saddest graveyard was around an abandoned ‘convent’ (a very tiny building, and covered in thick ivy). Here the majority of the tombstones were slabs on stone, the length of a person, lying flat on the ground. Many were covered in moss or ivy, but we could not even see if writing was even on them. An exception was a stone off to the side, aren’t they always, which did have writing. “John McKernan died 1851 aged 86 years and his wife Bridget”, although a known variant it was probably not Kelly’s John.

Another day another townland, and a new name Barrett. Drumragh Catholic cemetery is a shoo-in for tidiest cemetery in Ireland. The bevy of people with cleaning utensils in their hands was a give away. One of the chatty locals was Gerry Quinn whose family had lived in the area since 1730, but that was not the most extraordinary thing he had to show us. But that must wait for another post.

Before leaving Carrick-on-Shannon, a name Oarsmen and the Australian-Irish couple with her dire warnings about being kneecapped in Derry! And the extraordinary system of one way roads that had us criss-crossing, or perhaps spiraling around this little town to be able to leave on the very same road that the B&B seemed to be very close to; and similarly never allowed us to get to the church on the hill.

This is what our typical cooked breakfast involved. Add mushrooms.

Travelling needs energy!