bitter/sweet's Claddagh Geocoin

FOR DISCOVERY ONLY. This coin wants to live happily-ever-after with me, being logged occasionally for mileage & by geocachers that I meet. Feel free to discover using Tracking Number: PC74TK.

-+-+-+-+- This coin was a gift from N9TDC, because I love the legend of the Claddagh. Ahh, but who doesn't like a story where true love prevails? We also both love The Claddagh Irish Pub, which is the first place we ever had dinner together. -+-+-+-+- The Claddagh is a symbol of love, friendship and loyalty. Claddagh itself refers to a small fishing village just near the city of Galway, which is said to be the oldest fishing village in Ireland. The Claddagh ring has a design of a heart being encircled by a pair of delicate hands with a crown above the heart. By tradition the ring is taken to signify the wish that love and friendship should reign supreme. The hands signify friendship, the crown loyalty, and the heart love, so, naturally, it is a common exchange of friends or lovers. -+-+-+-+- In marriage & other committed romantic relationships where one is “spoken for,” the ring is worn on the left hand with the heart worn towards the wrist. Others wear the ring on their right hand with the heart pointed towards the fingertips. Claddagh rings have traditionally been kept as heirlooms with great pride and passed from mother to daughter. -+-+-+-+- The original Claddagh ring is generally attributed to one Richard Joyce, of Galway. Joyce departed from Claddagh, a small fishing village where the waters of the River Corrib meet Galway Bay, on a ship enroute to the plantations of the West Indies. That week he was to was to be married, but his ship was captured by Mediterranean Algerian pirates. He & his crew members were sold as slaves; Richard Joyce was sold to a Moorish goldsmith who trained him in his craft. He soon became a master in his trade and hand crafted a ring for the woman at home that he could not forget. -+-+-+-+- In 1689, Joyce was released after William III came to the throne of England and concluded an agreement whereby all his subjects who where held in captivity by the Moors were to be allowed return to their homes. The Moorish goldsmith offered Richard his only daughter in marriage and half his wealth if he would remain in Algiers. He declined and returned to Claddagh to find that the woman he loved had never married. He gave her the ring and they were married and he set up a goldsmith shop in the town of Claddagh. The earliest Claddagh rings to be traced bear his mark and the initial letters of his name (R.J.). -+-+-+-+-