Hill of Tara County Meath Ireland

We visited the Hill of Tara with our guide Gerry as part of our tour with of the Boyne Valley. Gerry didn't actually walk up the hill with us but rather drove us there and dropped us off. We didn't have any idea about what to look for since this had not been something we were prepared to do. Sadly, in early November, the visitor center was not open so other than knowing that the Stone of Destiny was at the top and if we hugged it we would see our destiny, we didn't have a whole lot to go on. Signage was literally nonexistent.

#hillof tara  #stoneofdestiny

My knees had been acting up so the other three in my party went ahead without me. I was quite a lot behind, since as I exited the restaurant I decided that I had enough knees left to give it a go.

I walked through the gate and up past the statue of St. Patrick, no explanation of why he was there is provided. It seems St Patrick lit a Paschal fire on the hilltop in defiance of the Pagan king of Tara.

I walked past the visitor center, all locked up, through the cemetery and out into the field. WARNING: the field is loaded, and I do mean loaded with sheep doo, you need to watch every step that you take. It was also wet and muddy when we were there and extremely slippery.

The first thing I saw was the burial site, there is a small sign there so I knew it was called the Mound of the Hostages.  It is a 3000-year-old passage tomb. 

Walking past it to the next hill, you come to the Stone of Destiny. The views from the top of the hill are quite stunning and it does seem like a perfect spot for the King of Tara to be crowned.

I would suggest that visiting the Hill of Tara during the season might be much more interesting when the visitor center is open to provide a little background and guidance. 

We did have lunch here at McGuires which had excellent soup and we really wished we had time to visit the cluster of small and very interesting looking shops at the bottom of the hill.

#stoneofdestiny 
#hilloftara