After I recovered from the climb in the cave, we sped along the road towards Laois. First port of call was Durrow. As it was Sunday my parents would be there so I thought it would be ignorant of me not to call in to say hello. After a 10 minute pit stop, we were on the road again. We had sweets to chew as one of the fine old ladies in Durrow gave me them for all the entertainment I had provided. Isn't that nice? Pearson unwrapped and he had one, and I had one. Being generous, the box was passed back to Dave and JP in the back, with the warning of "Any chocolate found on the seat would result in an ass-raping by a local redneck". The pair of savages downed the whole 1st layer, and were about to tuck into the 2nd layer when Pearson intervened and ensured the front passengers had some sweets too.

Anywho, the trip to the Rock of Dunamise was passed laughing and taking the piss out of the Midlands 103 commentator, and his sidekick. They were doing the commentry on Laois and Dublin, and nothing as funny was heard all weekend. We could visualise the commentator in his position at the ground. He was completely into the game. I imagined him standing on a chair, shouting and roaring into the microphone like a crazed maniac. And every so often he'd ask his sidekick for his opinion. Immediately the tone changed. This man was no doubt lying out on a couch pure relaxed. A bud in one hand, a joint in the other. Totally chilled. Its as if he couldn't give a shit what was going on. In stark contrast to the main dude who was totally immersed in the match. And neither of them had a clue who individual players were, or the rules of the game. But it was hugely entertaining, and it passed the time magnificently.

After a short drive out of Portlaoise, we hit the destination for the Laois stone. A quick picture was followed by the short walk up to the old ruins. This place held alot of history. Strongbow the crazy viking lived there, and our old friend Cromwell who was a complete bollox also frequented the place. The ruins were quite impressive. The place was built on a massive hill and the view from the top was brilliant. Its a pity the day light was fading, otherwise I'm sure things would be even more impressive.

After a good wander around, where we climbed walls and scaled rocks, we picked up our stones and had a little ritual. I wasn't happy that we hadn't done any kind of seriously physical activities over the weekend. Our stones were collected but there wasn't the usual sense of achievement from previous CASA trips. So I seen a type of path outside one of the external wall so we strolled down that and then managed to climb and crawl our way around. One slip would of been fatal as the fall would of been quite horrific. But we managed to cling to our lives and soon we were back up at the ruins. Time was beginning to push on, so we threw some stones (not the official CASA ones) into a forest that was miles below us. It was fun to hear our stones crash against the leaves below, and once all members heard the noise, it was time to depart for grub.

We headed back towards Portlaoise for food. We ended up in O'Loughlins and we forced ourselves around a small table. We managed to eat all the grub, and soon we were on the way towards Naas again. It didn't take long to arrive back at JP's place. We packed our belongings and then headed off back towards Athlone. On the way, the mood was quiet as the remaining members felt sad at the loss of JP. We were also in reflective mood about the weekend so the journey seemed to drag a bit.

We touched down in Athlone around 9 in the evening and Pearson moved his stuff from my car to his and then he was on his way. I don't really remember what I did between that time and the time I went to bed, but I'm sure it involved thoughts about the weekend gone past.

Time will tell how this CASA trip rates against previous trips. It surely was a marathon adventure, and we seen many different, unusual and interesting things. Some of the destinations were crap and were a huge disappointment. The zoo being an example. Carlow as a county is ridiculous, and the tour in the cave was a little disappointing. Overall, CASA returned with a bang. Soon there'll be a new adventure. Plans are afoot for our next trip. Details will be passed to CASA members soon, and then the record of the trips will be posted here.

CASA is back folks, long may the stones continue to demand our attention, and our desire to collect one is back as strong as ever.

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