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The Tain March today in Tulsk

The annual walking festival known as The Táin March gets underway from Tulsk on Friday, 18th May.

The 260 km walk retraces the route of the epic cattle raid Táin Bó Cúailnge undertaken by Queen Medb of Connacht to the Cooley Peninsula in north Louth some 2,000 years ago.

Friday will take the walkers from the royal site of Rathcroghan via high and by-roads to Lissonuffy at the western foot of Slieve Bawn.

Join us at 10am on 18th May at Rathcroghan Mound, where children from local primary schools will greet Queen Medb and her marchers and help to send them on their way. All welcome to come along to Rathcroghan Mound to see this spectacle.

We will also use this great occasion to launch our redesigned maps of the Táin Trail, so that all visitors can follow this route from beginning to end, throughout the year! To get your copy of the new Táin Trail Map, come along to Rathcroghan Visitor Centre from c.12.30pm

The Táin March was established in 2011 as a community walking festival to celebrate and promote the epic tale of Táin Bó Cúailnge (The Cattle Raid of Cooley). This story of envy, honour and military prowess is reputed to have taken place about the time of Christ and involved the armies of Connacht and Ulster in a titanic struggle over a prize bull called Donn Cúailnge. The march began in Rathcroghan in Co Roscommon, where Queen Medb began her quest for the Brown Bull of Cooley. The 260 km walk retraces the route of the epic cattle raid Táin Bó Cúailnge undertaken by Queen Medb of Connacht to the Cooley Peninsula in north Louth some 2,000 years ago.

On Saturday 19th, the marchers will cross Slieve Bawn itself (‘Bolga’ or ‘Badbna’ in the medieval manuscripts) via the ancient Monastery Path before winding their way to the Shannon at Termonbarry and finishing at Clondara.

Further details of the march can be found at the Táin March website (www.tainmarch.ie).

(Pic courtesy The Tain March)

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