My day started at Ballyglass (County Mayo) in the hope that it had been cleared. Sadly not. I had to find the farmer for a project we were thinking about and he told me that the site would 'stay overgrown for as long as he was alive'. Shame. He added that he was fed up with people just turning up and being disrespectful. Shame.

After that I went to Tawnatruffaun (County Sligo) to meet up with Ken Williams to hunt for a cup-and-ring marked stone near to the tomb. Sadly we found the stone embedded in the wall. I say sadly, because the stone turned out to be half a millstone, abandoned after it broke in two. The alledged ring is actually the scratched out position of the hole in the centre.

After that Ken headed home and I set off (with little hope) to find two tombs that I've looked for previously and (obviously) never managed to find. Today I found both of them. The first is an almost complete wedge tomb and the second an almost perfect court tomb with a roof and impressive corbelling.

I'd planned a big trip to Achill Island for the weekend, but the weather was terrible. All too often recently I've let bad weather keep me from going out and I wasn't going to let it happen today. I wasn't going to go camping in it, but I wasn't going to stay indoors, either.

So, I set off for Westmeath to track down a few bullaun stones - no surprises with my choice of target really! I tend to ignore the midland counties, so it seemed like a good plan to see what I could find.

I had some success. I managed to track down some bullaun stones that I don't think have been visited for a long time. One is a big lump of limestone and another was the only one I've been to that is a quartzy comglomerate. I also went to a very interesting motte and bailey, which is in very good condition. The motte itself looks as if it could be a reused barrow.

All-in-all the weather was pretty bad. I came across several trees that the high winds had brought down and it didn't stop raining until mid-afternoon. I still had a very enjoyable day out, though.

Today was one of the wonderful days in the year when my wife, Uta, and I go out together. It's always a pleasure to do so, as I not only have great company, but I get to revisit some great sites and experience new ones with her, too. Today we decided to head for Burren in Cavan. Here you can find wedge tombs, portal tombs, rock art and more: all within a short distance of each other. To help us find some of the monuments we had a little booklet with us produced by Gaby Burns who has, in recent years, spent much time surveying the area.

Apart from visiting the megalithic tombs in the area I wanted to track down the three rock art panels in the townland. This we did successfully and as an added bonus I found one that isn't included in the booklet and may well be a new panel.

After seeing all that the woodland area had to offer we went to see a nearby sweathouse, a cashel and a portal tomb. The portal tomb, although collapse has become one of my favourites and I think it's unique. Like others of its kind it has been altered to be used as a shelter - maybe even a sweathouse! - but what makes it special is the wall that it appears to be built into. This wall is very wide, much wider that all the other walls around the monument and extends along the central axis. I think this wall is the original cairn. If so, it is the only one left remaining to the height of the capstone. Fantastic!

The cashel we went to isn't the one I was hoping to see, but a second example in Moneygashel townland. The landowner for the other one (which has a sweathouse built inside it) denied that it existed, but she might have been confused about the area of land I was talking about and it might not be on their land. I'll have to go and find it another way. I don't mind an excuse to head back here as there is plenty of rock art to the north in Fermanagh to track down.