Last time we visited historical sites. Today, we headed out to sea.
During our trip so far, we’ve been reasonably lucky with the weather.1 It helps to be willing to do what the weather allows. Sometimes, though, one has to plan ahead. We wanted to visit Innishmore, one of the Aran Islands. That means a boat trip and boat trips require advance tickets. So… we we made our best guess about the weather and bought tickets.
Do not hire us for weather forecasting or fortune telling.
Here’s what the weather was like when we were driving to Galway City to catch our boat:
It was a “fun” drive. The weather didn’t improve when we got on our boat.
The fun factor was increased by the fact that we weren’t willing to sit inside with 50 possible COVID carriers, so we stayed outside on the deck. In the rain.2
The boat stopped mid-way to the island to do some whale watching. No pictures, but we did see several minke whales breaching.
Fortunately, the clouds lightened up a bit as we get close to Inishmore.
And by the time we landed, it was still cloudy but it had (mostly) stopped raining3. Kevin immediately felt right at home.
And, despite the clouds, it was beautiful. The stone walls are everywhere in these parts.
We’d been here before in 2013, so we wanted to go somewhere different from the usual visit up to the top of the island. We decided to head to Dún Dúchathair, aka The Black Fort.
The “path” ended up taking us to the other side of the island … and we were not expecting this.
We made it to the Black Fort, which is a large stone ring fort on the cliff.
After hiking back down, we got back on our boat for the second half of our trip — a motor by the Cliffs of Moher (AKA the Cliffs of INSANITY4).
By this time, the clouds were fluffy white and it had turned into a gorgeous day. We got a spectacular view.5
These cliffs are 14 kilometers long (8.7 miles), and 214 meters tall (702 feet) at their highest point. (For comparison, our boat was perhaps eight meters tall.)
The drive home was somewhat easier than the drive out. (From Kevin: That’s her opinion!) Okay, somewhat drier. (From Kevin: Okay, I’ll give you that.)
All in all, a good day. Now kitty time!
Next time… Surviving(?) Croagh Patrick.
The events of this entry take place mid-September, 2021.
Vaccinations and masks were required. But still.
From the perspective of a Pacific Northwesterner, that is.
10 geek points to the first person who gets the reference. Some of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince was also filmed here.
We return to the Cliffs later in our trip.
Dear Kevin of Glendalough... Saint Kevin (modern Irish Caoimhín; Old Irish Cóemgen, Caemgen; latinized Coemgenus; 498 (reputedly)–3 June 618) is an Irish saint, known as the founder and first abbot of Glendalough in County Wicklow, Ireland.[1] His feast day is 3 June. Wikipedia.
So Kevin must have been on his best behavior? :-) The video of the Cliffs were spectacular! Reminds me of a Scuba dive Kevin, John, and I almost died on in Laguna, JK. Fortunately for us, the Life Guards stopped us before we entered the raging waves of Laguna Beach. Remember Kevin?
No Geek points for me, but I’ve seen the Cliffs of Moher! Never saw any sunshine the whole time, so you are definitely winning.