Wednesday, November 21, 2012

An Adventurous Day

Yesterday we drove 30 km from Galway to a tiny airport where we boarded an 8-passenger plane to fly to Inis Mor. It was a beautiful drive a lot the shore (in spite of a slight mishap with the car) and a nice, quick flight. Once we got to the island, we found a driver who offered to take us on an island tour, which was good because we weren't sure how we were going to get around the island.

The island is 9 miles long and 3 miles wide at its widest point. Originally all limestone, the people have built stone walls all over the island, and filled the plots with seaweed and sand to make soil so they can farm and raise livestock. The main draw to the island is the prehistoric fort, dun aengus, 2500 years old, on the top of a 300 ft cliff. We walked up to the fort, which I think ins the windiest place on the planet. When Barry peeked over the ledge, hits hat blew off with amazing force and flew way outside the fort and down the hill. I thought we would never see not again, but Barry actually found it on the way back down!

We had some lunch at a small cafe and then went on to see and old, ruined monastic site before heading back to the village. We went to a pub to wait for our return flight, only to learn that the flight was cancelled due to the gale-force winds. Fortunately, there was a ferry returning about 1 1/2 hours later, and the seas were calm enough for the ferry to run. We got back on shore about 2 hours later than anticipated, and then had to go back to Galway to pick up our laundry. Finally we were on the road for our 3 1/2 hour drive to Kerry, arriving at 11 pm. The Kerry Travelodge isn't fancy, but it felt good to get in the beds.

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