The Aran Islands

Brain cancer is...

...up early off the coast of the Aran Islands.

We haven't mastered the time difference fully, and we aren't good sleepers to start with, so at 4 this morning we changed Darrell's arrays. His only Irish array change!  Maybe we've evolved beyond the need for sleep.

Fun Fact for Aran Islands knits:  You know those gorgeous Aran Isles sweaters? They were intended to keep fishermen nice and dry with their oily wool. Different regions use different, highly protected, patterns in their knitting.  We heard that the purpose of the patterns was so that if some fisherman was pulled, dead and facially unrecognizable, from the sea, you could at least tell which village he was from and take his body home.  That's our kind of story:  Sweater forensics.

Precap posting:  6:45 a.m.

Today we visit two of the Aran Islands:  Inis Mor this morning and then Clare Island this afternoon. These islands are off the west coast of Ireland, far from England, and thus they are the least influenced by English ways than any other part of Irelands (we hear).

We'll see Dun Aengus (the fort of Angus) this morning. On Clare Island, we're joining the "fast walk" group to hike a few miles to the lighthouse.

We have not seen one drop of rain in Ireland...yet.

Update on last evening:  The tenors were terrific.  They made us appreciate anew Irish musical traditions.  We thought of your dad, Beth and Barb.

Recap Postings

Inis Mor

Absolutely stunning!  Check out the weather in these pics. 

A traditional thatched roof house...and one for the fairies. (Do well by the fairies, and they will do well by you.)

Thousands of stone walls on the island.  Many content cows.

Up we go.

The view at the top

This fort is one of many ancient ring forts in Ireland.  They were for living, not defending.  Chunks keep breaking off and falling into the sea.

The light was beautiful, and the water was truly like glass.

You can see that Zodiac conditions were perfect.

 Clare Island

The weather held.  The out-and-back walk to the lighthouse was 10K (6 miles).  We put in a total of 10 miles before heading to La Terrazza for dinner.  Except for the totally clear sky, this is what we pictured in our minds' eye when we thought about Ireland.

This road was our trail.  You can see bogs, more stone walls, and maybe wildflowers.

Our trail ended at the light house, then people walked to a higher peak for the view. The steepness of the slope, the sameness of the rolling green, and our close proximity to the sky were a bit disorienting to us, people with sea legs.

The view from the top.

Darrell makes his way down, back to the road.

Still to come:  We want to put together some of our nature photos (very wooly sheep, Irish wild flowers, etc) and maybe some historical notes.

Today's adventures were for me. Tomorrow is for Darrell.  He plans on us doing nothing at all for our last day in the Republic of Ireland (before heading to Northern Ireland).  Our feet are happy with this plan.

We love you and miss you.