Today was one of the wonderful days in the year when my wife, Uta, and I go out together. It's always a pleasure to do so, as I not only have great company, but I get to revisit some great sites and experience new ones with her, too. Today we decided to head for Burren in Cavan. Here you can find wedge tombs, portal tombs, rock art and more: all within a short distance of each other. To help us find some of the monuments we had a little booklet with us produced by Gaby Burns who has, in recent years, spent much time surveying the area.

Apart from visiting the megalithic tombs in the area I wanted to track down the three rock art panels in the townland. This we did successfully and as an added bonus I found one that isn't included in the booklet and may well be a new panel.

After seeing all that the woodland area had to offer we went to see a nearby sweathouse, a cashel and a portal tomb. The portal tomb, although collapse has become one of my favourites and I think it's unique. Like others of its kind it has been altered to be used as a shelter - maybe even a sweathouse! - but what makes it special is the wall that it appears to be built into. This wall is very wide, much wider that all the other walls around the monument and extends along the central axis. I think this wall is the original cairn. If so, it is the only one left remaining to the height of the capstone. Fantastic!

The cashel we went to isn't the one I was hoping to see, but a second example in Moneygashel townland. The landowner for the other one (which has a sweathouse built inside it) denied that it existed, but she might have been confused about the area of land I was talking about and it might not be on their land. I'll have to go and find it another way. I don't mind an excuse to head back here as there is plenty of rock art to the north in Fermanagh to track down.