|
Callan Bentley Ireland |
Innishmor
Headed out to the Aran Islands
The Aran Islands are three chunks of limestone off the west coast of Ireland. They are a preserve of Gaelic culture and language, and have a rustic windswept charm that makes them one of the top draws for visitors to Ireland. They also knit wool sweaters out there that are famous around the world. I took a ferry from Rosseveal, a small port north of Galway.
Biking around the island.
Not a whole lot was happening on Innishmor in these sleepy days between Christmas and New Year's. I checked into the one hostel that was open, and I rented a bike. Pedaling brought me north to several stone forts.
Stone Walls
Stone walls crosshatched the island, forming pens for the sheep and cows. There were few trees. The cycling felt nice -- any excercise feels terrific after days spent doing little but drinking Guinness and listening to music in pubs.
Cycling along
I pedaled along until I came to the entrance to Dun Aengus, the most famous fort in the islands. I soon found out why. I parked my bike, had a sandwich, and then hiked uphill to the fort.
Dun Aengus
Whoa! These semicircular fort was perched on the very lip of a sheer cliff, at the highest point of land around! It was a very dramatic location. I loved the fact that there were no guardrails: hyperlegal America this wasn't!
Vertigo
I leaned over the edge of the cliff and was mesmerized by the powerful waves beating the rocks so far below.
Nice place for a fort
Another hiker snapped this shot of me "on the edge". Inside the stone fort, I had a moment when the other tourists had left and I was all alone. I tried to invoke the spirit of the place -- tried to imagine Viking raids on this isolated spot, and the battles fought, the fears felt, surrounded by this half-ring of stone.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
