Thursday dawned overcast with rain in the forecast. We have little planned for this day - a trip to Carrickfergus Castle overlooking Belftast Lough in County Antrim. The town gets its name from King Fergus of Scotland who was killed when his ship ran aground off shore. His body washed up on the rocky shore and the word for rock, carraig, was combined with his name and thus Carrickfergus.

The Norman style castle was built by John de Courcy in 1177 after he conquered eastern Ulster where he ruled as a petty king until 1204, (This is the same John de Courcy who was responsible for burying the three Saints in Downpatrick.) It was expanded several times over the years adding additional layers of outer walls.

As we travelled, I had seen several posters referring to Edward Bruce 700. Who was this Edward Bruce and was he possibly related to Robert the Bruce, victor over Edward II at Bannockburn and King of Scotland. I did not realize its significance until we arrived in Carrickergus.

After Robert the Bruce defeated Edward II at Bannockburn, he was anxious to conquer more land to add to his Scottish holding, including northern England and Ireland. Robert's younger brother, Edward, along with 6000 soldiers sailed to Ireland, landing in May of 1315 near Larne (just a few miles from where we are staying). They then drove south to Carrickfergus where they lay siege to the castle for eleven months. Finally, short of food and possibly resorting to cannibalism, the Irish surrendered to Edward Bruce. Shortly after, Ó Néill and twelve fellow northern Kings and lords met Edward and swore fealty to him as High King of Ireland (the last High King). With his now Scots-Irish army, Edward turned south to continue his conquest. Along the way he sacked and burned the monasteries at Kells (where the Book of Kells had been written in c.800 AD), Grandard, Finnea and Abbeylea. (Why men choose to sack and burn such places is mysterious to me. The books and knowledge lost with these acts will never be fully known.) In October of 1318, Edward Bruce was defeated and killed at the Battle of Faughart. Subsequently, his body was drawn and quartered and his head was sent to Edward II in London. It is believed that Edward Bruce is buried in the churchyard on the Hill of Faughart near Dundalk, County Louth (I assume without his head). Thus ended the last attempt to unite Ireland as one free land free of English rule until the late 19^th century.

Returning to the Cottage, we had some time till dinner time and so decided to take a pilgrimage to one of the nearby sites from the Game of Thrones. In season 1, episode 1, Ned is set with the task of beheading a deserter from the Nights Watch whom he as captured. This takes place on a hillock below some cliffs overlooking the sea. Offering the GPS coordinates to Our Lady, she led us to the spot where we found a parking lot and a placard commemorating the scene. The exact spot was not identified on the placard and John and I debated its location. Not satisfied with our options, we returned to the Cottage and pulled the scene up on YouTube. (You will find it here.) About 20 seconds into the scene, behind the deserter you can see the edge of the cliff as in dives behind another hillock. You will see the cliff edge and hillock on the picture below for reference.

This is also the location of the scene in season 5 where Littlefinger reveals to Sansa Stark that they are returning to Winterfell…where she will be married to the adorable Ramsay Bolton.

At dinner we were treated to a Ceilidh at Mattie's featuring local musicians. While they played many tunes I did not know (including several from the US that mentioned places like N. Carolina, Virginia and Nashville), here are a few that I did recognize - The Star of the County Down, When You Say Nothing at All, El Condor Pasa, For Ireland I'll Not Tell Her Name (a lovely fiddle tune), Nancy Spain, and a few others but my memory is dimmed by age and a few pints of Guinness. And when they found that we were from Tennessee, they did Tennessee Stud, The Tennessee Waltz and The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down. Finally at just past midnight, they called it a night and we made the long trip back across the street to the Cottage and bed.