Blessed well, Clashadoo

A gorgeous day - the sun shone, it was warm and spirits were high!! I dropped himself off by a lough at the base of a mountain and promised to pick him up a few hours later, then I set off on an adventure. I was in pursuit of holy wells amongst other things, part of my new project. I had been to this one at Clashadoo a couple of years ago but couldn't quite remember how to get there. I bravely knocked on a door to request permission (yes sometimes I'm good) to traipse across a field. The door was answered by a Yorkshireman, who was a bit surprised but amenable. He knew of the well but not where it was. Fortunately Deirdre who was innocently walking her dog, knew exactly where it was and I was in the wrong spot. Following her directions, I climbed a gate, slid down a little boggy track and found the well, What a place. The well itself nestles into a small hill and looks out on the most amazing view - across to Bantry Bay and Hungry Hill on the Beara Peninsula.  It is a remote and windswept place but feels old and serene.  The well itself feels like its still visited. It's a two tiered well made stone construction with a little niche on top containing  a small statue of Our Lady. Plastic flowers and a bottle of holy water have been placed as offerings. The well itself is quite small but the water looks clean and fresh. Other views of the well can be seen here.  Close by is meant to be a promontory fort and although the cliffs are impressive I could see nothing fort-like. Clashadoo by the way means dark hollows - very Harry Potter!

I continued and took in a mass rock, another more neglected well and two standing stones. I came home, put in some onions and then went to find himself  who was exhausted but content having walked along the ridge of the mountain and down an old mass path.

Thoughts on the The Decameron, watched last night: the acting was terrible but the faces were extraordinary, the stories were odd but the  scenery and settings incredible. Worth watching for aesthetic reasons - visually stunning, though the performances made us giggle and I dont think they were meant to.