26+6=1. Or 2, depending. Alternatively: In search of a Hufflepuff.

Wapping said:
How was the ‘Road bowling’?
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By Sunday lunchtime the weather had improved so I set off to Aghagower for the All Ireland Road Bowling Championship.
This is a sport I've seen a number of times on TV and purely by chance it was being played 30 minutes away, even more unusual as it doesn't have a great tradition in any counties other than Cork or Armagh and in That London, the USA in Boston Mass., New York as you might expect and rather bizarrely West Virginia.
 
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As I entered the village there were plenty of cars but no sign of the competitors so I popped my head into the local bar which is in a small room behind the Post Office accessed through a door at the back of the grocery shop. This arrangement reminds me of the Ireland I remember from the 1960s and 70s, great to see it's still there in places.
A quick chat and I was pointed in the right direction.

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Past the official start line for 'Ends' played from the village.

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For those of you unfamiliar with the sport it involves competitors either individually or as a team of 3 representing their area/county throwing a steel ball* weighing 28 oz from point A to point B along the public road, the winner being the team/person who get to point B on the fewest throws. It's a great game and clearly brings the 2 communities of Ireland together.

'Spotting' for London was Prince Harry, now we know the real reason for his return from California.......

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While Gerry Adams was providing moral support for Armagh........

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Interestingly the balls are known universally as Bowls, no surprise as that's the name of the sport.
Except in Armagh where they're known as 'Bullets'. :nenau

More to come.
 
Joining the End part way through allowed me to chat with a few people who were happy to explain the finer points of the game to me. They were an incredibly friendly bunch and had really embraced this fellow from West Virginia.

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He had no Irish roots at all but started playing the sport 10 years ago when the town of Ireland W.V. added it to their annual fête. Each year the winners of the State competitions play off to represent North America in the All Irelands (Juniir class I think) where a spot is held open for them. This year he'd finally made it and was really excited to be here as was his wife, less so their small child who was wondering why his dad hadn't taken up surfing and gone to Hawaii instead. He'd played yesterday and given an excellent account of himself, only losing on the final throw. He was beating himself up about it but I hope as the days and weeks roll by he'll appreciate what he's achieved, certainly the locals were hugely impressed with his efforts. He vowed to be back.

A fair few had flown over from The States to support him.
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So, you obviously start at the start line and the next point you throw from is the furthest point your bowl/bullet reaches, if you're throwing up hill and it rolls back no matter, it's the furthest point that counts.
The road is marked with the county name and the no. of throws taken.

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The competitor then marks the spot in the road from which he intends to throw with a couple of clumps of grass

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His or her spotter then goes up the road to mark the perfect line via another clump of grass and his or her legs, the aim being to get the bowl close to that clump and in the area marked by the fellows legs.

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We have a winner.....

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Despite how it might look there is serous money involved.
Each team puts an equal amount of cash into the pot and the winning team take it all.
The one End I watched from start to finish had €9,000 resting on it, not to mention the side bets that were going on as the End went on and there were numerous Ends throughout both days of the weekend. I can't imagine the totals won and lost but I did hear one lad in his twenties lamenting to his girlfriend that he'd lost €900, €600 & €500 respectively on Ends over the 2 days.
The big event 'King of the Road' is an international event featuring teams from Europe as well as Ireland and The States. It takes place over 3 days in County Cork with numerous Ends on all of the days and each End can have up to €95,000 resting on them. All bets are of course cash only. I did see a wedge that one of the bookies had - the last time I saw that much cash was when a Scouse drug dealer dropped his takings in a Liverpool pub one Wednesday afternoon. :augie
 
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Aghagower is the last place St. Patrick stayed in before he moved on to Croagh Patrick for 40 days and nights, while here he knelt against this rock and left an imprint behind. It's said that when rain lands in here it becomes Holy Water.

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Also in the graveyard was a fake grave being deconstructed by a couple of ladies, a forthcoming Blockbuster called 'Leaving me behind' being filmed in the area. They're hoping to get it released in time for the festival season.

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Before heading back to the hotel for my last night in Ireland I'd seen another monument I wanted to check out so made my way there, 'Fastest Route' obviously.

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I got the snap I wanted...

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.......but as I was leaving I spotted a bumble bee on the wall. Although the sun had been out it was turning chilly and he looked to be in a bit of trouble so I let him crawl onto my hand and cupped him between that one and my other for 15 minutes or so until he warmed up.

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I had an almost empty can of orangeade in my top box so I gave him a drink of that which helped his revival and then moved him to a flower here he buried his head for another few minutes before cleaning himself down then flying away. Hurrah!

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Then it was back to the hotel to have an excellent evening meal with the remaining stragglers, thanks for your company Comrades.
 
And then it was up the next morning to head home via Dublin and an overnight in the Travelodge Holyhead.
We'd intended staying until the following Saturday but Phil had had his fill of Irish rain, Irish wind and twisty little Irish roads and the forecast for Donegal wasn't looking any more inviting so had decided to call it a day and head home. He tells me he enjoyed his time, I hope he did but apart from meeting some great people at Leenane I'm not so sure. Having invited him here and knowing the issues he'd had with the wee Himmy I felt an obligation to head back with him. I realise that might sound odd but had anything happened to him, particularly between Leenane and Dublin I couldn't have lived with myself so I here I sit back in the U.K. as miserable as my arse and itching to get back home ASAP.

Massive thanks to everyone involved in organising the weekend at Leenane which was the catalyst for my trip, I had a ball there, had a ball getting there and met some fabulous people both there and along the way.
 
So what of The Hufflepuff? I'd only heard of it in a fantastic song by Ireland's greatest ever Trad. band so didn't really know what I was looking for. Was it a physical being of some sort, a creature from the deep or a force of nature? Who knows, not me, but I have a feeling we may have encountered it on Sunday morning when the rain siled down sideways and the howling wind woke us as it ripped through the trees outside the hotel roaring away to the extent that I genuinely thought it was people heading home on their GSes.
Could that have been The Hufflepuff that would quite literally 'blow me away'? I think it might have been. I think I might have finally witnessed it. :D

Take it away legends:-

 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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