Pub Crawl

[macausland]

The sea arches the kayakers paddle through look quite artificial with lots of right angles not the sort of thing you would expect from rock washed out by the sea. They look like a long protected waterway.

[Boreades]

The sea arches the kayakers paddle through look quite artificial with lots of right angles not the sort of thing you would expect from rock washed out by the sea. They look like a long protected waterway.

That reminds me I have previously suggested that some "natural" features, like unusually regularly-shaped harbours and docks, could be megalithic concrete. After a few thousand years of weathering, they would look very natural.

[hvered]

The sea arches the kayakers paddle through look quite artificial with lots of right angles not the sort of thing you would expect from rock washed out by the sea. They look like a long protected waterway.

Exactly what I was thinking. The sides seem sheer and the channel completely straight, almost canal-like. The kayaker wasn't being unduly troubled by currents though that might be down to skill.

There doesn't appear to be much information on Donegal's early history (apart from the large copper mines further south not much out there on Irish mining history either). Interestingly there are examples of petroglyphs, cup-and-ring marks like those in Northumberland, at Carrickabraghy Castle, the Isle of Doagh. It's a rock rather than an island to the south-west of Malin Head. The castle, which is ruined, is next to a blowhole called 'The Hissing Rock' that spurts water when the tide is high.

[hvered]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mbhistory/html/NF2233812?thread=6090118

The first comment on this site gives a description of the possible use of an ankh for direction finding.

What an interesting piece, thank you Mac.

[macausland]

http://www.irishmegaliths.org.uk/donegal.htm

Here's a few megaliths in Donegal

I'm off with my newly made ankh and a star chart. If the clouds lift I'll see if I can find my way to the pub.

[Mick Harper]

In TME we proposed the ankh and the Celtic Cross were ancient cross-staffs (I can't remember whether that was original or not). But the point was that, according to me, a Megalithic professional set it up and the traveller merely had to count the days and/or wait for the particular star to show up in the cross-hairs.

This general idea of the ankh being a circular sighting device so that stars appear inside the perimeter of the circle is much better (cross-staffs are very tricky to operate I'm told) and, better still, each ankh could be designed speciifcally by professionals for each journey. Yes, north would be at the centre but other directions can be indicated also.

[Boreades]

The Ankh, The Celtic Cross, clearly all related.

Some other authors have written about this - e.g. Chrichton Miller
http://www.crichtonmiller.com/experienc ... _cross.php

The pictures of his practical experiments have an uncanny resemblance to some of our very own Jon Morris' Henge/Hinge work

[hvered]

According to the 'Natural Arch and Bridge Society' they do turn up all over the world, even in deserts.

Travellers in a desert need reference points just as much as sailors do. Some of the major trade routes lead at least part of the way across deserts, which are etymologically linked to hermits, hermitages and Hermes.

Thoth aka Hermes is usually portrayed overseeing the precise weighing of a human soul (against the white feather of Ma'at) and naturally carries an ankh. Hermes/Mercury is a winged messenger or (angelos and indeed archangel, with far bigger wings, in his Michael guise.

The Ankh, The Celtic Cross, clearly all related.

The Christian Cross seems to be the exception by discarding the ankh or wheel. Perhaps the head of Christ was a substitute for this shape. It'd be interesting to examine the angle of Christ's head in Renaissance paintings, many of which apparently contain various esoteric references.

[hvered]

There's a rock arch called Lundy Hole at Port Quinn, north Cornwall



Lundy Island is visible from Worm's Head on the Gower Peninsula but I couldn't say if it can be seen from here. Perhaps from further up the coast at Tintagel and almost certainly from the 'Ladies Window' up on the cliffs between Tintagel and Boscastle



On the south-western tip of Lundy Island is a sea cave, described as a sink hole (though the island is granite) that's called the Devil's Limekiln Entrance



Quite a striking arrangement in a well-used (and Megalithically important) shipping route.

[macausland]

http://www.stevecolgan.com/Cornish%20Fo ... iants2.htm

I was browsing this site which deals with all sorts of Cornish myths etc. He does use the 'C' word, Celt, which may be upsetting for some, but it is interesting nevertheless. Reduce the stories to the basic elements and perhaps there is a kernel of truth there.

It made me think though about how to test the age of materials in the landscape and that led me to think of Barnes Wallis and his trials of the bouncing bomb which led me to think of wind tunnels and the testing of prototype aeroplanes.

Perhaps certain types of stone could be suspended or placed in wind tunnels which could then blow air and sand or whatever and see how they change over a set period. Or water and sand etc.

Or perhaps a computer simulation could do the same job.

Input the known distribution of varying materials, rocks, sand etc and then apply a force with settings for force and time and see what happens.

I'm half way through a bottle of Talisker getting in touch with the ancestral spirits at the moment otherwise I'd get my Spectrum out and do it myself. Sorry.