Tag Archives: Roadtrip

Jan22

A trip into legend – The Cave of the Cats in Rathcrogan, and the origin of Samhain (Halloween)

Posted on by
Standard

Thursday, 24-October-2024

It’s pronounced “Sell-Win”, by the way. Not “Sam-Hay-ne”.

I learned that pretty quickly, as we drove out into the Irish countryside, on our mission to find the roots of Halloween, buried beneath the earth of the Emerald Isle. I was on the road with my friends Brian and Megan, heading West toward the midlands of Ireland, enjoying the quiet and good conversation as the highway passed beneath the wheels of our rental car.

Megan had invited us out to explore the Cave of the Cats, or Oweynagat Cave in its native Irish, in the town of Rathcrogan. She’d first heard about it years back, when she was first getting interested in Ireland, as the origin of Halloween – according to myth, this cave was where the spirits of the otherworld would enter ours one evening per year. That evening, people would stay indoors, or dress up to avoid being taken captive and dragged back underground to the otherworld… an evening that evolved over time into what we call Halloween.

It was an excellent adventure – I can’t say that we passed into the otherworld, or that we did battle with any ancient spirits… but we did get an excellent tour of the land, heard stories about its history, and even had the chance to step foot into the cave itself. We didn’t go particularly deep, of course, as who knows how long it could have taken us to get out…

default
default
default
default
default
default
default
default
default
default
default


On the way out, we stopped in for lunch, and a bit of exploration, in a town called Roscommon. We grabbed a bite to eat, explored Roscommon castle, and I even flew the drone around a bit!

Nothing of major note, but definitely one of the fun parts of Ireland – being able to stop into small towns, tour a castle, and then get back on the road. Good times!

Rathcrogan itself found us stopped at the visitor’s center, meeting our tour guide, and then descending into history and myth of Samhain. Our guide was absolutely amazing – as the guy who literally wrote the book on the area (we definitively got copies), he regaled us with myth and story from all across Ireland, focused on those tied in with the cave that we were exploring. We listened, absorbed, learned, and let ourselves be transported back in time… to the days of Celtic heroes and monsters.



Links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rathcroghan#Oweynagat
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rathcroghan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samhain

Jun8

Visiting Hvammsvik hot spring and spa

Posted on by
Standard

Friday, 17-May-2024


My second hot spring spa of the day was Hvammsvik, pronounced more like “K-ams-vick” – a sort-of competitor to the Blue Lagoon in terms of tourism, at least from what I could tell looking at the various ads for each of them in the airport when I first landed in Iceland. Which, incidentally, was at least one of the ways I’d heard about it. Advertising does work!

I’d tried to swing by before, nearer to the beginning of my adventure on the 14th, but they’d been closed to clean the pools out. Which I’m actually okay with, since I’d been able to find a tiny little hot spring in the woods, all alone, instead… but that’s another story.

Hvammsvik was lovely. I don’t have any photos from the pools, since it seemed weird to have my phone on me in such a private place, but I can 100% confidently state that the pools were lovely, at excellent temperatures, and that their mineral content was absolutely lovely. I luxuriated, recovered from some of my aches and adventure pains, and felt glorious.



Afterward, I followed by tradition from Krauma, and got myself a very lovely dinner – a lovely dinner that I could take pictures of! Melty cheese, delicious seafood soup, and even a fancy health-shot of… something… vaguely spicy? It felt a little woo-woo magic-crystals, but it was tasty and I felt pretty good afterward, so I’m taking it as a win and being happy for it!

Which is the theme, here. Two hot springs in one day, getting to watch the sun slide down toward the cliffs, and having an excellent meal afterward? Yeah, I’m not going to be complaining at all.

An absolutely lovely visit to a lovely spa.

Jun8

A quick stop at Hvalfjordur

Posted on by
Standard

Friday, 17-May-2024


I’ve mentioned previously, but I love it so much that I have to reiterate: The fun part of my roadtrip in Iceland was being able to stop at all the neat little things that I was while adventuring.

Hvalfjordur is a good example – It’s nothing much, sort of like the Saga of Kjartans in that it was just a placard on the side of the road. This time, with a strangely long dock stretching into the fjord nearby… but otherwise, just a simple lonely little sign.

I saw it in passing, pulled off the road at the next turn-out, and backtracked. Stepped out, took a moment to appreciate the cold and the wind, and just enjoyed the unrushed freedom that I had before checking out the sign, snapping a few pictures, and then getting back onto my trusty steed and charging off once again.

You can read the placard in the photos, but the long story short is that Hvalfjordur was an allied naval base during WWII – Iceland was actually neutral in the war, but was invaded by the British and United States for use as a base to support shipping in the North Atlantic, as well as a stop-over for aircraft flying from the US to the European theater. Hvalfjordur was one of the naval bases, a spot where everything from small tankers to the giant battleships could moor and refuel.

It’s neat to hear these tidbits of history, and I’m so thankful for the freedom to just stop and enjoy the world around me. Whether that’s a placard, a random fish spine that I found on the beach… or a dock and rainshower off shore.