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I had a good night’s sleep and was
away at 8am. I took the R487 which was a good road with little
traffic. My first objective was Birr to see the ‘Great Telescope’. A
few miles out of the town were some memorials by the road. They were
quite substantial. I’d planned to take a minor road into the town
but missed the turn off and had to go back to find it. I’m glad I
did because it enabled me to ride around the high wall at Birr
Castle. |
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The telescope was in the enclosure and
thankfully when I reached the small entrance it was open. Another
touring cyclist arrived just before me. He didn’t seem very
friendly. Inside at reception my heart sank when I saw that to get
in the grounds would cost 9 euros. |
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The
1840s Great Telescope |
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I explained to the young man where I’d
cycled from to see the telescope but I thought it unreasonable to
pay that amount just to see one item. I turned round to leave then
he said I could go in for nothing if it was just the telescope I
wanted to see. I walked along the various paths to reach it and was
amazed at the size of the stone mounts. |
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The
1840s Great Telescope reconstruction. |
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The original
72-inch reflecting telescope, built in 1845 known as the
"Leviathan of Parsonstown".
It was the world's largest telescope |
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A reconstruction
of the amazing telescope. |
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William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse |
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The
Whirlpool Galaxy as drawn by Rosse |
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The
Whirlpool Galaxy by Hubble telescope |
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The Whirlpool Galaxy also known as
Messier 51a or NGC 5194. Rosse's telescope Leviathan was the first
to reveal the spiral structure of M51, a galaxy nicknamed later as
the "Whirlpool Galaxy", and his drawings of it closely resemble
modern photographs. |
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The wooden telescope is apparently a
reconstruction. It is a 72in reflector and during the 1840s and
beyond was the largest telescope in the world. I left the town on
the R440 to Kinnitty where I saw a pub and a sign saying free
internet. I stopped but there was no WiFi anywhere in the village. I
left on the continuing R440 but it was now much narrower as I
started the climb up over the Slieve Bloom Mountain range. The
gradient wasn’t too steep and I managed it without any problems. It
was interesting to see a large stone limekiln about half way up. |
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Limekiln
on the Slieve climb |
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Most of the climb was through the
trees but higher up it was exposed moorland. I saw a few cyclists on
the way but they were all on sports bikes. In Mountrath there was a
charity collection going on. People with high visibility clothing
and buckets were going up to all motorists stopping at the
roundabouts. They didn’t approach me.
I continued to Portlaoise which was the biggest town I’d seen today.
I even managed to find an open WiFi and was able to upload a photo
of the telescope to Facebook. I also saw that Dean had reached the
south of France with his bike and was now riding back. He put some
pictures on taken in Biarriz. A stark contrast to my views as I rode
out of Portlaoise by the incredibly grim prison. |
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Over the
Slieve Bloom Mountains |
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I didn’t see any supermarkets but
called at a garage to fill 2 empty 2lt plastic bottles I had. I’d
done enough miles for the day and as I left on the R445 kept a
lookout for a suitable camping spot. I found a barriered off area of
felled woodland and some patches of grass. It wasn’t ideal but was
the best I would find. As I set up camp several Traction Engines
chuffed along the road occasionally tooting their whistles. After I
got the tent up it rained for a while. |
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One of
many traction engines |
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One of
many traction engines |
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One of many traction engines |
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Whittle Wanderer
