Gougane Barra, and a wee spin through the Killarney national park.

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Gougane Barra, site of the original talking Golden Fish and the reason that a gold salmon is over our most famous landmark – Shandon in Cork. St. Finbarr fished the lake and taught the locals and was apparently inspired to go to Cork and build a big cathedral there – a fish told him, a golden salmon – ever since the Shandon tower, an oft disputed landmark which over time saw rival Protestant and Catholic gangs fight and hold it for ransom and now residing in the hands of a religion other than Catholicism, has had a wooden salmon stuck on its uppermost spike giving rise to a phrase “under the goldie fish” to describe where I live.

None of these need explanations except maybe the dappled slab of stone – believed to be an early alter – practicing certain religions in Ireland was fairly frowned upon from time to time so a covert clergy used to roam the hedgerows and overturn slabs, bless them and the locals would appear and they’d all say mass. If someone with a long musket and bayonet did not interrupt them then the slab was turned over again to lie innocently until the next time. It seems this one was never discovered so avoided being smashed.

The only other item of interest here is the miraculous cross. As with many places of religious significance Gougane Barra has its share of miracles. This cross has several stories from being the actual one that the saviour used to being from the same wood but its miraculous powers were convincing enough for visitors to stick coins into it as an offering. Its main claim to fame is curing illness apparently. There is also a story of someone walking on water to escape a storm as a coin is plunged into the wood by the desperate survivors already ashore. The cross looks fairly old but all the coins I saw were fairly modern – post 1972 and all decimal coins.

I did the tourist thing with my D1X and visited the site of our City founder and patron saint and the river that runs through our town.

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1/200 F7.1 ISO 125
Above lake scene shows a petrified and sunken forest and believed to be part of the last great original oak forest in Ireland. It was destroyed during the rural electrification scheme in the 1930s through 40s. It had been a significant source of quality timber but was largely felled to make way for the series of lakes and dams to feed the (then) new hydroelectric station just outside Cork.
Model : NIKON D1X

Software : Ver.1.01

Date and Time : 2001:08:28 20:42:39

Exposure Time : 1/0 Sec

ISO Speed : 125

Aperture : 1:5.6

Quality : Normal

Zoom Length : 24 mm

Exposure Program : Aperture prio

Exposure Bias : 357913940.333

Metering Mode : Center average

Zoom Length : 24 mm