Mission: Menlough Castle

Last Sunday Bethany and I decided to trek out to explore the ruins of Menlough Castle. We had the following information to go on:
-It is north of our apartment.
-It is on the eastern bank of the River Corrib.
-It is approximately a two mile expedition.
-One must traverse through a field with potentially waist-high grasses.
That's all of the information I needed. We set out in high spirits.

(skip ahead about thirty minutes of accurate navigation...)

We crested a hill and dead ahead was this:

The road bent away to the right, but it seemed to me much more likely that this old gate might lead us to the ivy-draped walls we sought. After a bit of discussion we trooped under the arch and up the road that quickly transitioned to a dirt path. We shortly came to place where the pastures on either side gave way to a forested area that had an esoteric, mythical charm to it (trust me, the photo just doesn't do it justice).

A bit further up the road we caught our first glimpse of Menlough Castle. Hopped a few fences, pranced across a field or two, and stepped into the shadow of the towering walls. (Allow me to digress long enough to point out we actually arrived at the other side of Menlough, but this was a better view...)

We ventured inside to the collapsed halls and roamed around for a good while, plus I managed to find a few places to climb up to to gain a better perspective of the magnificence that once was. In summary, an absolutely fantastic setting for adventure and definitely a place to inspire the imagination, and although not a castle in the typical sense of kings and battles and the like it still brought back a few childhood memories (I seem to recall a phase in my er... very young days that I may have wanted to be a knight...).

This Saturday's adventure: Bunratty Castle in Shannon...