I hope Mael Coluim would appreciate this one

[McELT]

My wife and I were looking through some old photos from our trip to Ireland.

I ended up scanning them in. One of my surprise finds was the following.




As Jen and I were driving around Donegal, killing time waiting for our room to be ready, we discovered a sign that led to St. Colmcille's holy well.

I had to stop and see it. I'm a huge admirer of St. Colmcille (Columba). I also felt like it was a bit Father Ted.

[Mael Coluim]

Aye, McELT. I do! Here’s the one I took. After the 2005 Voyage of St. Columba our skipper loaned me his touring bike. I used the bike and the fine bus system to tour Columba sites of Ireland.



I had cycled up to Gartin to visit the birthplace of St. Columba. There was the ruins of one of Columba’s first churches there.







Nearby this new Celtic Cross marked the site of Columba’s birth.

[Mael Coluim]

The day before I was in Derry and came across this Columba well.



The real find was the Maritime Museum there which housed the Columcille curragh which was used in the first re-enactment in 1963.







As fate would have it. When I returned home the wife of a Presbyterian minister here gave me a 1963 newspaper article of the first re-enactment voyage which she found in a book she purchased at the used book store on Iona!

There are not many this side of the pond who know of St. Columba. I am glad to learn of your interest in this Celtic Saint.

[McELT]

One of the stories of St. Colmcille that I am most familiar with is the copyright issue over a psalter which St. Colmcille had copied from one of St. Finnian's text. Since St. Colmcille's family was somewhat powerful, they were set to defend his ownership of this psalter, even fighting a battle over it. The dispute was adjudicated in the favor of St Finnian (to each book its copy) with St. Colmcille accepting voluntary exile to Scotland (Iona) to stop the bloodshed. After visiting the beautiful lands of his clan in Donegal, I can imagine how heartbreaking such an exile would have been.

[Mael Coluim]

Aye. He settled on Iona, because it was an Isle where he could not see his fair country.

[macwilkin]

One of the stories of St. Colmcille that I am most familiar with is the copyright issue over a psalter which St. Colmcille had copied from one of St. Finnian's text. Since St. Colmcille's family was somewhat powerful, they were set to defend his ownership of this psalter, even fighting a battle over it. The dispute was adjudicated in the favor of St Finnian (to each book its copy) with St. Colmcille accepting voluntary exile to Scotland (Iona) to stop the bloodshed. After visiting the beautiful lands of his clan in Donegal, I can imagine how heartbreaking such an exile would have been.

"To every cow its calf, and to every book its copy."

Of course, without the white exile, Columba would have never have had the first Loch Ness Monster sighting!

Regards,

Todd

[Mael Coluim]

On my 2004, pilgrimage from Iona to King Brude’s fort outside Inverness, we traveled along Loch Ness.



The gentleman on the left is a local expert on Nessie. As local legend has it the area behind the folks pictured here is where Columba battled the monster. In his Q&A one of the group asked him if he ever saw Nessie. He replied, no. Later one on one with him, I told him I believe he had seen Nessie in his life time. Aye, he said. We left it at that.



Earlier, I too, had sighted the beast.

[beowulf67]

Great pictures! Thanks for sharing them and the stories behind them.
And what a good shot of Nessie! She's a little greener than I imagined....

[Mael Coluim]

Having showed you the curragh from the 1963 re-enactment now housed in the Nautical Museum in Derry, I thought I would show you some select photos of the curragh Colmcille that was sailed in the 1997 and 2003 Voyage re-enactments.

The curragh belongs to the Causeway Coast Heritage Group in Portrush, N. Ireland. It was made as a curragh of this size 39 feet long would have been in the 6th century with one big difference. The hull then would have been made from alternating layers of skins and pitch. Ours had canvas where there would be skins. A fourth layer was added for our trip.

These photos are from the 2003 voyage that I participated in.

The Colmcille was moved on trailer from its warehouse where it is stored to the Causeway Coast Heritage Group’s boat house. The boat house was once a sea rescue station.



In the boat house a display has been set up to honor the 1997 Voyage.

[Mael Coluim]

Here we have taken her from the trailer and turning her over on her keel to get her to the water.