Narnia

We had expected to be on the road for 11:00am today giving us plenty of time to beat the meter.  However, a much needed trip into town for coffee put us behind schedule and forced me to run down the street with a backpack, bag of souvenirs and 2 large suitcases to beat the parking inspector on his morning round.  I arrived 1 minute before our expired time to stop the inspector mid parking ticket miraculously.

The drive to Dublin was to be short so we planned 2 stops along the way.  The first was another Game of Thrones site and the second was a surprise for Jack.  He was given the clue “something living, something magical and something practical”, which he quickly assumed to mean The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.

Our first stop was Castle Ward which is where the Game of Thrones Series began.  This was the filming location for Winterfell in the pilot.  Although the scene was heavily altered with CGI at Titanic Studios, it was possible to picture the Stark Family home standing in front of us.  There were other sites within the castle grounds used for filming but the grounds were so vast (and lovely) that we chose not to explore them but rather head for our surprise destination.

On route to our mystery destination we made a completely unexpected detour.  There would be few people living worldwide who haven’t heard of St Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, just as there are few people who don’t claim Irish heritage on the day we celebrate the said Saint’s day in March. So when we saw a sign to his church and grave we had to stop.  We were surprised the wonder seeing the site created.

Our mystery destination was Kilbroney Park, Rostrevor in the Mournes mountain region.  It was widely documented that this area inspired CS Lewis to write the Narnia Chronicles.  In honour of this, a Narnia Trail has been created at the park which we figured would be a must visit for Jack, a lover of Narnia.

The directions we had to the trail were vague at best so it took a while and a lot of luck to find it.  We admired the park as beautiful in itself as we walked down to the trail, and in a rare event Jack led the way.  As we approached the wooded area of the park we found the ceremonial wardrobe door showing the way to the trail.  Through the door we could see the lamppost where Mr Tumness first appears.

Following the trail we passed the beavers’ house, the tree people, the citadels, the thrones and other crafted sites key to the stories.  Jack was so excited, in another rare event, he had to be slowed.  Harry and Audrey enjoyed finding the sites weaved into the trail but they had not read the books and therefore the significance was lost on them.  I, on the other hand, remember the books being amongst my first chapter books so was silently in my element too.

With all detours out of the way, it was time to head for The Republic of Ireland, and its capital Dublin.  Again it wasn’t a long drive but we did arrive in the heart of the city during peak hour which added spice to the drive.  After some careful navigation of one way streets we found our apartment and were overjoyed to find a washer/dryer and kitchen.  While we bought some supplies for breakfast and snacks, we were too tempted by a meal and pint at the historic Brazen Head pub around the corner.  The oldest pub in Dublin, once home to many rebel meetings through the years, served us up the most exquisite beef and Guinness  and Irish stews and seafood chowder – oh and as a beer tosser I can confirm that the Guinness does taste better in Ireland (its the local ingredients).  With our craving for hearty Irish food satisfied, we headed home for a good night’s sleep.

Mark (on behalf of the wandering winrows)