Top o' the mornin' to ya!!
We had a very peaceful first night in Mucklin, hearing only the rain running out of the downspout into the drain, and we woke to a crisp foggy morning.
Nora arrived around 10 am we went for a 2 hour walk on the hills above the lodge. We ran into Nora's brothers, Brendan and Patrick, early in the walk and stopped for a brief chat, but they were the only people that we saw.
As we walked, Nora pointed out where various related families had lived, and gave us a much better appreciation for Mucklin's geography versus the surrounding townlands, as some of my Mother's family lived in the neighbouring townland of Curryquin.
Our walk was on country lanes and farm tracks, winding slowly up to the top of the ridge. From the top we looked down on the lodge where we are staying (the white house in the centre of the photograph below) and Brendan's cow shed.
Mucklin and Curryquin are both on the hills, but are surrounded by a large flat area, with Nenagh, the local market town, about 8 Km away on the plain. In total we climbed about 850 feet on our walk.
After a quick lunch we set off into Silvermines to visit the Kilmore cemetery, the final resting place of my Mucklin Gleeson ancestors. Brendan and Patrick have erected a new stone on the family plot, complete with a lot of family details.
We stopped by to visit the only Sherlock still living in the area, but his neighbour told us that he is away until Friday, so we will try and catch up with him then.
Nora dropped us back at the lodge and Marlene & I headed into Nenagh to stock up on groceries for the week.
At 8 pm, Nora took us to the monthly meeting of the Silvermines Historical Society, primarily to listen to a talk about using DNA testing in family history. The talk was very informative, and as an added bonus we got to meet an Egan third cousin.
All in all a busy first day in Mucklin, and by bedtime my voice was fading. I will have to do less talking tomorrow.
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