Third and fourth Class set off yesterday morning bright and early on our school tour to Lough Key Forest Park and Rathcroghan Visitor Centre Tulsk. The weather for the day wasn’t as nice as we had hoped for but it didn’t stop the fun or dampen our spirits. We had a very adventurous day that was enjoyed by all.
Firstly we arrived at Boda Borg at Lough key a little ahead of schedule so we took this time to enjoy our morning break. We fuelled our bodies for the fun filled challenges, imaginative puzzles and enjoyable tasks ahead of us. We were brought into a media room where we watched a quick video on what was expected of us through the big doors. We then formed our teams and our two hours of activity started. During the challenges we used many skills such as balance, cooperation, collaboration, problem solving and most importantly teamwork. Laughter, excitement and camaraderie could be heard from every room which was lovely to hear and see.
After our two hours of challenges we sat down to have our packed lunches and headed then for the Lough Key Tunnel Tour. This tour was very interesting and took us through the servant tunnels of the old Rockingham House which once stood on the grounds of Lough Key Forest Park.
The children listened to Chloe the tour guide very attentively who told us that the Park was formally known as Murlorg up to the 17th century and that the kings of Murlorg were the McDermotts. They sold the land to the King family who built Rockingham House. Unfortunately Rockingham House was destroyed by fire in 1957 due to an electrical fault in the basement. During the tour we climbed the 160 steps of the Murlorg tower which now stands where the house once stood. From the top of the tower we could see the beautiful landscape around Lough Key including Castle Island the home of the McDermotts.
After our little history lesson we got to go to Adventure Kingdom Playground where we explored the giant climbing frames, slides, monkey bars, tire swings and much more. Thankfully the weather stayed fine for us to enjoy this great facility.
We hopped back on the bus and set off for our final stop of the day Rathcroghan Visitor Centre. We were greeted by the lovely and very informative tour guides Daniel and Lewis who showed us around the interpretive centre and told us the story of the Medieval Village of Tulsk and its surrounding historical sights. We learned that it is the home of the Warrior King Meabh of Connacht. We learned a very interesting fact about her too that she was killed by her nephew who fired a piece of cheese through a sling shot which hit her in the temple and killed her. Who knew cheese could be so dangerous!!
The best and final part of our tour was to go and visit one of the historical sites. We travelled by bus and then had a little walk to Oweynagat – The cave of the cats which we were informed is Ireland’s ancient entrance to the Otherworld and the home of Halloween. This was an amazing end to a wonderful day as we got to travel down underground in the souterrain to the cave and experience what it would have been like for the warriors of long ago.
Unfortunately the heavens opened while we walked to Oweynagat and we got soaked waiting for each group to go underground but we embraced our surroundings and the weather conditions and enjoyed the freedom of being wet to the core and jumped in the puddles…it was great knowing a nice dry change of clothes was waiting for us back at the bus.
We had a very enjoyable, educational and fun filled day and no doubt everyone slept well last night!
