Kilnaurane pillar stone part II

I blipped this stone a month or so ago but today the light was so good it was possible to see the details on the carvings quite clearly. This remarkable gallaun (standing stone) is set high up on a hill over looking Bantry bay. I couldn't unlock the gate so had to clamber over it, hoicking up my skirt and mindful of ferocious cattle. The general opinion is that it's the remains of a high cross. The carvings can be identified - at the top there is an interlocking design, then there's a figure praying, then a rather handsome Celtic cross, and below that, and you'll have to take my word for this, are two seated figures with a bird between them -  honest!!  They have been identified as St Paul and St Anthony miraculously receiving bread from a raven when they were in dire straits in a desert! Perfectly obvious!

My brother has just departed for Moscow. He's making a short film about Tchaikovsky and is going on a recce. They're putting him up in a sanatorium for old Russian film directors! He's nervous.

PS note the gorgeous day!