Heritage

Stuffy and underslept, I groaned out of bed the day I left Galway - and then I remembered what day it was! Nugent family castle day!! All looked like it was going to work out perfectly, until at the second last stop the bus driver told me that they no longer go to Delvin, my destination.So sticking my thumb out was the only option. On the way there, I hitched a ride with a father and son who were on their way to a bike race, and on the way back, I got a man looking to buy golf clubs that sounded so much like Gerard Butler that it was scary (yes, I know Gerard is Scottish!).

The Nugent castle in the middle of Delvin was awesome, I took a bunch of photos because I was so proud that my ancestors had a castle. Then i got taling with the salesman at the local shop, and it turned out that there were not one, but three Nugent castles - the one I saw was the first, built in 1100, while the second one was burnt to the ground in an act of defiance when Mr Nugent didn't want the castle to fall into the hands of Cromwell's forces. Finally, and most awesomelyu, the relatively newest caslte is amazing, and looks like a palace fit for kKings, not Earls as the Nugents were. It standsat the edge of town, and most of its grounds have been turned into a Galf course by the current owners of the castle.

What an experience, to see a castle named after your ancestors. It was an amazing day, abut a long one - by the time I'd caught the bus from Galway to Monegar, near Delvin, and then hitched rides, it was almost midnight by the time I got into Dublin at my hostel. What a day!!!