Archaeology around Carrick

Today’s bike route was predominantly inland, but still included some coastal riding. After all, this one-week bike trip roughly follows the northernmost section of the “Wild Atlantic Way,” a 1,600 mile route along the entire Irish west coast.

The day began by riding through the Glencolmcille valley, with recently harvested peat bogs. The farmers cut out clods of ‘turf’ and leave it lying on the ground to dry. We wondered how anything dries here, but saw that there were also crates in the fields containing turf chunks that were covered on top and ventilated on the sides.

This valley is rich with archaeological sites, and our biking guidebook sent us to a few. The Cloghanmore court tomb in Malinmore (among Ireland's first permanent structures) dates to 3000 BC. All that is left is a ring of rocks and an entranceway. Another type of Stone Age structure is the portal tomb (also called dolmens). The 4000-year old Malinmore Dolmens were located in someone’s front yard! Several standing stones are also in the area. It is possible that some of the standing stones pre-date the arrival of Christianity, but were later inscribed with crosses and religious symbols. In many cases the stones mark burial sites or other places of significance.

An optional coastal route diversion took us down to a lookout over a scenic beach cove—the Silver Strand (An Trá Ban).

After leaving the coast again, we arrived in the village of Glencolmcille, and its folk village. Folk villages are living history sites where visitors can get a glimpse into the past. This village contained homes representing rural farming and fishing life in the area from the 1700s up to the mid-1900s (still pretty basic accommodations).Read more