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First off, we stopped at the 1848 War House—otherwise known as the Widow McCormack's Cabbage Patch, site of short-lived 1848 uprising. In a nutshell, a handful of rebels from a group called the Young Irelanders launched a rising in the middle of the Potato Famine, hoping to overthrow the British government. They found themselves at McCormack's place and were defeated within a few minutes by a small number of policemen.
You'd think that such a failure would be quickly forgotten. Far from it. The next nationalist group to come along, the Fenian Brotherhood, depended on memory of 1848 to inspire and recruit (hence the sign they placed on the old McCormack place).
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But I get ahead of myself. As we made our way across country, progress was slowed by a run-in with some especially stupid cows that were simply standing in the road.
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Eventually a farmer arrived to move them along, but the cows were little interested.
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Finally the bloody things started to move. Rather quickly, as it happens... straight at me. I jumped back in the bus!
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Believe it or not, there's still medieval paint in one chapel.
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Sadly, it was raining during the hurling match. Never very hard, mind, but steady enough that I was worried about using my camera. Thus, no photos. Suffice to say that it was a BRILLIANT match. Cork was much the underdog, but they pulled off a brilliant victory and there was much celebrating.
Two last photos. The first is of our ride: a Mercedes. Don't get too excited. It is electronically limited to 80kph. My calls for hitting the chip with a hammer have been roundly rejected.
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Finally, this is a flying rat. Kinda pretty, actually. (I love my camera!)
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Dasn't blame the bleedin' cows! I mean, what side of the stinkin' road is a bloke sposed to amble on, mate?
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