When we arrived at Oideas Gael, Siobhan greeted us and we followed her to the B&B they assigned us to. It was a pleasant surprise to be staying with the Cunningham family at Teach Gleann Dobhar. The house is big and it is definitely a family home. There are two boys, two girls and Bailey the dog. Martin and Margaret Cunningham, the owners are warm, accommodating people. In fact, The Music Man came down with a cold on Monday and Margaret fixed him a hot toddy. There are six of us from Oideas Gael staying at the house, Jim from Belfast, Paula, from Italy, Mert and his French wife, Elisabeth, who live in Dundalk, my husband and me. There are also people taking this course from Japan and Russia.
The orientation was Saturday afternoon and the first class was Sunday afternoon. The Music Man is in level one and I'm in level two. We have language in the morning and the chance to take an elective in the afternoon. I opted for the hillwalking and of course, my husband is taking a Gaelic song class.
The first hill walking session was quite a climb and we passed by several stations of the Turas Colmcille, which is a pilgrimage walk, usually done in the summer. The tradition of it is very old and most likely predates Christianity.
The Kneeling Stone.
Tober Colmcille or Colmcille's Well. All the stones around this well
were brought by pilgrims.
A watch tower from the 1700s I think. I missed the history lesson.
Sea cliffs northwest of Gleann Colmcille.
The weather is very changeable. Down in Gleann it was cloudy, but this was 600 meters higher and the atmosphere was very different. It's a wild and beautiful place.
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