Today was a day of rain, failure, sun and success. While failing to find some standing stones that we were looking for we came across an amazing set of stones that could be a natural (or partly natural) setting, but this seems unlikely.

As always when walking in the Wicklow Mountains the views were stunning even in such damp and gloomy weather. The occasional break in the weather, when the sun broke through momentarily, enhanced the experience even more.

After this walk we popped into the Glendalough visitor centre to take a long overdue look at what that offers. The verdict? Not bad at all.

What a day out this was! First stop was at a Sheela-na-Gig in Offaly. A real beauty - in the way only a Sheela can be. Then I started off the day's site-seeing proper with a 10km walk that took me past a possible 10 to 15 monuments, I really couldn't be sure how many there were. There were certainly a lot of possibles and a lot of probables. This incorporated some spectacular views over Lough Derg too. Fantatsic!

This was followed up by an extreme climb to the Ballycroum monuments. An exhilerating experience at the end of which I got wet! Rain on top of a mountain ... so wonderfully Ireland!

Just the four sites today. A relaxing short day out taking my time and meeting great people. At the first site, Ballyhad, a farmer took me to the bullaun stone and told me more about the area than I can remember.

Then at Magnacool Lower the farm lady took time to give me directions and walked me halfway to the rock art.

I finished off the day with an icecream (complete with flake and raspberry sauce) sitting by the river opposite the gatehouse at Glendalough.

My partner and I went down to County Carlow on a bullaun hunt today. We managed to locate a few, but failed with some. The bullauns in Carlow seem to be mainly deep conical ones - very unusual.

The highlight of the day, though, was definitely the rock-art at Rathgeran - truly wonderful.