Lunch and a Word About Thatched Roofs

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We wandered down the hill and into a little cafe that we'd noticed on our way up. I ordered a chicken sandwich and chips which turned out to be the neatest little sandwich cut into fourths on the bias and served on white bread with fresh Irish butter. The chips were hot, fresh steak fries. I had a nice chat with the owner about Ireland and China and she told me to "be careful" on my journeys. She was very sweet and genuinely interested in my tales of adventure. From there it was on to Hore Abbey, the ruin across the street from Cashel. More on that in a subsequent blog, but for now I wanted to talk about Thatched Roofs.

I've tried numerous times in the past to get a good shot of these uniquely Irish homes, but given that it's so hard to get a photo from a country road with no shoulder and cars whizzing past at 100 KPH, I've never managed to squeeze one off. On this trip though, I got lucky and have added a few examples below. The construction is quite remarkable - the roof is extraordinarily thick - and rain just rolls right off. I imagine though that they are stuffed with mice and snakes and that bugs almost certainly fall on your face while sleeping, which makes me grateful for good old tar and gravel. These are considerably more quaint however.







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