Dragon's egg

A murky moisty day but we headed off to South Kerry for an adventure and yes wells were involved. First stop Kenmare where we were disappointed to find that the French patisserie was closed but interested to see a sheep fair in full swing - a lot of furtive blokes loitering and some handsome sheep. We had a mooch around a rather good exhibition and I got some ankle wellies in the Joules sale.
Then it was out into the wild and we have visited some truly wild places, all looking spectacular in russets, tawnies and rusts. First stop an elusive bullaun that I had tried to find twice before. It is in the middle of nowhere in a spectacular landscape where every rock, usually surmounted by a hawthorn or holly tee, looks significant. After quite a a strenuous search we suddenly found it and what a thing! An earthfast rock with a scoop cut out of it - the bullaun. This one is also classified as a holy well and the water within it good for warts. What was especially thrilling was that the it still contained its speckled stone within it. These are sometimes called dragon's egg or serpent's eggs and what else could they be?  For good luck you turned it clockwise, for mischief you turned it anti-clockwise. I was very careful how I handled it when I lifted it for the photo. By the time we got back to the car I discovered that in exchange for allowing us to visit the site the good people fairies had helped themselves to my red beret which had been securely in my pocket. 
The well which Vikings used to mix with heather to make beer proved elusive - a shame as to drink this instantly made you 7 years younger.
 
Then on to a seriously remote spot - a small road which stops, a trek through forestry and scrub, across a small river once accessed by stepping stones but now bridge, a scramble up the mountain until arriving at a massive rock outcrop. And here another bullaun and Mass rock. This site has a grim story attached. A priest was illegally conducting Mass here during Penal Times and was captured and beheaded - there was a bounty of £45 pounds on a priest's head at this time. When the murderers took it to wherever they had to go to claim their reward they found that Catholics had just been granted emancipation so their loot was worth nothing. Mass is still conducted here to remember the poor man.
Isn't it astonishing what lurks in the Irish countryside if you can be bothered to explore.