Pedalling further into the bog, I saw turves (long skinny bricks cut from peat) stacked into a temple-like dome to dry in the wind – a man-made monument that echoed the distant peaks. Continuing through villages, houses along the roadside stored turves in open-fronted sheds in their gardens. After less than an hour of cycling through Roundstone Bog, it was clear that peat cutting is not a past tradition but still very much part of Irish culture today.