Contemplating the well

A big day. I decided to risk hell and high water and head off to Mitchelstown in North Cork for St Fanahan's  Feast Day (the eve actually). There was much flooding and the rivers had burst their banks but the roads were mercifully clear. The weather  was crisp and clear but with a fierce wind  blowing. I had agreed to meet an Instagram friend here - a really good photographer, who is doing some work on Mass Rocks, Patterns and Commemorations, as you do. We hadn't met before but I recognised him by the gear - he was bristling with cameras and I was a bit embarrassed to produce my point and shoot. Anyway, the gathering at the well was lowkey, authentic and friendly. We gathered for the rosary and there was a steady stream of pilgrims  coming down the long avenue to get to the well. The avenue is an ancient one, illuminated for the nine days in celebration of the saint,
St Fanahan, in case you're wondering, is a mighty saint - a warrior who had a crozier called Cennachathach – head battler, and when he went into battle he ground his teeth so sparks flew and set fire to his enemies spears! A king came to him who was worried whether he was guaranteed a place in Heaven. Fanahan offered him his place (guaranteed as he was a saint) but he had to pay a gruelling penance  - he commissioned seven smiths to make seven sickles and he then hung for seven years off them! The well holds a cure for flesh wounds! He's also patron saint of blow ins - what a man. 


A long but uneventful drive home where Himself had a delicious curry waiting for me.