I came home on Friday from the Ulster Cycle Conference in Coleraine, which was not about bicycles, but rather about the cycle of tales from the medieval and later period, most prominently Táin Bó Cuailnge or 'The Cattle Raid of Cooley'. I read a paper on the cauldron in early Irish tradition, and whether or not it was related to sacrifice. I have been out of the academic scene or a year since my graduation, so I was more than a little apprehensive about the whole thing. What made it worse was the fact that my laptop decided to conk out on me a week before I left, and genius that I am, I hadn't backed it up so I had to write it again from scratch. Originally, I was scheduled to read in the very last spot on Thursday afternoon, which was okay with me, as part of me secretly hoped that nobody would turn up. However, the organiser contacted me and asked to switch with someone on Monday who wouldn't be able to come. I decided that it was probably better to get it over with, so I agreed. I arrived on campus last Sunday, a really cloudy, miserable day. The accommodation was pretty nice, and we had this view:

and I met a couple of people I knew at the reception that night. I was pretty nervous the next day, but I think I handled it okay. As I haven't been at a conference in a long time, I think the paper turned out too short, but I got some appreciative comments on how clear it was. A couple of ladies who run a series of talks on Irish culture in Dublin asked me to read the paper again, which was pretty cool.
On Wednesday, we went on an excursion to the inauguration site of the O'Neills at Tullaghogue (An Tulach Óg). It was an elevated mound with earthen ramparts around it was was onced supposed to have contained a chair on which the king was crowned. It was a beautiful, serene place, and boy did we have the weather for it.




From there, we went to have lunch in Armagh. Unfortunately, though we had booked the restaurant, they didn't seem to be able to handle our orders, and after forty-five minutes, only three people had got their lunches. Some enterprising folks helped the waitresses bring out the food, but in the end, most of us had to go to the counter ourselves.
We went to the cathedral, which was beautiful.



We were particularly impressed by the carved figures, including the Tandragee Man, which depicts the character of Nuada of the Silver Arm from Irish mythology.


Labhraidh Loinseach has ass's ears!


We then went to Navan Fort, which features in many tales as a military and ritual site, but archaeologists still cannot agree on its function.


On Thursday, we drove around the Northern Coast, stopping off at the Giant's Causeway:



We also went to Dunluce and Dunseverick: