Friday 10th June

We started the day by visiting the Navan Centre and Fort.  This is a prehistoric settlement, and I have to say there was much more there than we were expecting!  First off we were given headphones while we walked around the indoor exhibition which had interactive displays combined with the narration on our headsets which was a good idea, although some of the touchscreens weren't that responsive, we got the general idea of the story being told.  Next, we were told that we could watch a film but we had to wait until the room was free, so we went into the 'Archaeological Experience' room as it was only a 10 minute wait.  It was set up for kids of course, but there was a really fun 'dig box' - a wooden box divided into 9 squares, and within each square were three cushions.  The top cushion had a soil pattern on it, and the ones underneath either had more soil or some artefacts such as a bangle or a sword printed on them. A great idea which Mathew took a photo of, as he is involved in running Young Archaeologist Club sessions!

Finally we went into the theatre and were given a choice of the short (12 mins) film or the long (20 mins) film, after which we would be able to go to the outdoor 'living' exhibition. So we chose the long showing and sat through a number of Irish myths and folk tales before being taken up to the round house inside which there were three people dressed up and acting in character, along with three people visiting from Canada.

They talked about the way of life, what they would eat and a bit of weaving and grinding flour as well, before taking us outside to show us their garden and explaining what the plants were and what they could be used for, not only for colouring wool but also medicinally.  We returned to the Centre and had lunch (Vegetable Soup), before continuing with a self guided tour to the fort which consisted of two mounds.  We were fortunate not to have got caught out in the rain, although we saw lightning and thunder heading our way and we had a light shower before we returned to the Centre.

In the afternoon, we went to Armagh Observatory and in particular went to look at the 'AstroPark' which was basically a sculpture park depicting the Universe...! We started with a representation of the Universe which stretched out to scale, although Earth was the only model planet which was not actually to scale!  Moving on we came across a Hypercube where each cube was 10 times bigger than the previous one, and the math made our heads hurt...!  Next we walked up the 'Hill of Infinity' where there were a number of plaques on the ground stating how many light years away we were from the Sun and where various galaxies were, until we reached the edge of the known Universe where I took a photo looking back at the Hypercube!  At the top of the hill there was a stone calendar, featuring a modern standing stone circle explaining where the sun rises and sets at the equinoxes.  Further around the corner there was a 'Human Orrery' which would be fun with more people actually - plaques in the ground followed Planetary orbits and stated how many years or days or took to get to the next spot.  The idea was to pick a planet, find its plaques and trace its orbit at the same time as someone else doing the same thing with another Planet so you could see the difference.  There were also some comets on there too.

At 3pm it was an early finish for us, but that wasn't a bad thing - this was our last day and we would be heading home tomorrow. We needed plenty of time to pack before leaving.  The following day was a simple route to Larne, yet another incredibly calm crossing on the ferry, a second stay in The Fox and Pheasant and the final drive home.