Fall has been a little crazy. I moved my bodywork practice to a beautiful new location over Labor Day weekend and then after working there for just over a week, we took off for two weeks in Ireland. Either one of these things by themselves would be a big deal, and smooshing them together like that felt NUTS! Upon our return, the dread Covid caught us both, so we have been taking it slow at the Hammershack for the past week or so. Slow enough to get the photos off my phone and publish my album to Flickr!

As I look back through the landscape of our trip, it was quite a whirlwind. The anchor was a “drum birthing” workshop for me in Bantry, West Cork; the rest of the trip shaped itself around trying to hit as much ancestral home turf as made sense on the way there, with visits to some of the numerous sacred wells and ancient stone monuments that cover the island. Our route was a counterclockwise loop, heading west from the Dublin airport to Navan and Dromahair, then south to Westport, Limerick, Bantry, then back up to Dublin. I used Wanderlog to plan and document as we went, and I think if you click this link you can check out our itinerary https://wanderlog.com/journal/wqeraonnxbavfm/trip-to-ireland/shared and potentially see some notes and photos that I logged along the way.

Driving in Ireland is a real adventure. I had heard this, but it was incredibly stressful for the first couple of days. It’s not just the driving on the left, which is an instant challenge, but more that the roads are narrow and have high hedgerows with stone walls embedded in them so the space feels inadequate and the consequences of miscalculation are potentially severe. I couldn’t stop myself from screaming as a passenger, so I was asked to drive. I really wondered in the first day or two whether it had been wise to set up what was essentially “Road Trip: Ireland”, but it did get easier. Still stressful, but easier.

Dashing from place to place meant we covered a lot of ground, but didn’t get to truly settle in anywhere. There were moments- walking the long loop on Clare Island (where my great-great-grandparents came from in the late 1800’s) was a slow, misty, quiet communion with the land; hiking up to Queen Maeve’s cairn felt good- but seeing everything from the car is not a great way to drop in.

One exception was the time we spent in Bantry, West Cork. This is where I created my drum, with a teacher I had found online while searching for shamanic tools that come from my own heritage traditions. Turns out drums and rattles are pretty universal. By dumb luck, I booked an AirBNB hosted by her father, who had created a sweet little loft above his woodshop. Here we were able to slow down, settle in, and connect. Our loft was within walking distance of the drum workshop classroom, which meant I could experience the winding country roads at a much more relaxed pace. Morgan stocked up on a variety of juices and stouts at the local grocery and settled in to just chill out. On the second day of my workshop, our host invited Morgan to join him as he went into town for a traditional music session at the local pub, where he played the bodhran (drum) and bought Morgan a pint. We could have happily explored the area around Bantry for many days, but instead we had to get back up to Dublin, where we could at last release the car.

Now that we’ve done the mad dash, I would love to go back and stay for awhile in one spot. Perhaps in Westport, where we could set up a home-base and see a lot more of County Mayo. The pilgrimage from my great-grandfather Thomas Moran’s home town in Ballintubber to Croagh Patrick is a well-trodden trail- The Tóchar Phádraig– some folks do it in bare feet! If the goal is to connect with the land, a pilgrimage walk is time-tested and true.
For now, we will settle for the comforts of home and all we have built and are building here. We are our ancestors’ dream, after all, living well, full bellies, loved, and sheltered. Thanks to the elders, we are here!