Gateway to Fairyland

July 19, 2023

Another early(ish) morning, another unique destination.  We were leaving County Sligo and heading into Dublin, but had one more stop to make along the way.  The Caves of Keash (Uaimheanna na Céise) are a series of 16 limestone caves on the west side of Keshcorran Hill, some of which are interconnected.  The caves have been used by men for thousands of years and are believed to have been the site of ancient religious practices and gatherings.  They also feature prominently in Irish mythology.  For example, they are said to be the entryway into the magical middle earth-esque realm of the supernatural Tuatha Dé Danann, who inhabited Ireland before men and are often associated with leprechauns and fairies.  Cormac mac Airt - Ireland's most famous High King - is also said to have been born at the foot of the hill, carried of in infancy by a she-wolf, and reared in the caves by the wolf before being found by a hunter, returned to his mother, and crowned to rule over Ireland during its golden age.  Even the legendary Finn McCool (Fionn mac Cumhaill) is tied to the caves through multiple stories, ranging from visiting a smith inside them to get enchanted weapons to angering witches on a wild boar hunt.

 

The weather in the morning left something to be desired.  It started pouring when we got in the car, but had let up by the time we parked to start our ascent.  When we arrived, there were two cars there.  One belonged to a farmer who had driven up to the field to feed his cattle and the other appeared to be an abandoned van.  Further causing confusion was the sign on the gate blocking the path declaring that the caves were closed for lambing season.  It took us longer than I care to admit to realize that the dates printed on the sign were from months earlier, so they weren't relevant.  As it turns out, our walk to the caves might have been the only time throughout our entire trip thus far that we hadn't seen any sheep at all!

The hike up the hill was quite steep and Morgan joked that I must have just looked for hikes that got progressively harder for each consecutive day.  The good news though, was that, while steep and muddy, the hike wasn't very long.  We got up to the first cave in no time and it was pretty cool, even if the weather wasn't perfect.  They were so big that it was easy to see why people had sought refuge in them for so long.  And some of them were so deep that the legends of being a passageway to a magical realm also seemed plausible.  We made our way across the side of the hill, stopping in each cave as we passed it.  When we reached the last one, the rain started up again, so we quickly turned and headed back down.

As we were changing shoes in the car and packing up to head out, I heard a door behind me.  Turns out that the abandoned van wasn't abandoned.  Rather, there was a really odd French couple living in it!  They didn't so much as acknowledge that we were there, much less engage with us.  Instead, they just went on doing weird hobo French people things like lounging in uncomfortable looking positions, smoking cigarettes, and making coffee in the parking lot.  It was bizarre, but we were off to Dublin!