Norah and I awoke early this morning and headed to Merchants Road to pick up our bus. Thanks to good values instilled in me from my mother we arrived before the ferry office opened. So we grabbed coffee and sat in Eyre Square where we bonded over our love for that Irish cinematic gem, The Secret of Roan Inish. We caught our bus at 9:30 and travelled to Rosseveel. I should mention the bus ride took us through An Spideal and I made sure to wave to Eamon Wright as we passed Twar Beag. Our ferry left shortly after we arrived at the dock and took about 40 min to arrive at the island.
To get around the island one has a few options: minibus tours, carriage rides, bike rentals or walking. I warned Norah before we got off the boat that I was willing to rent bikes but it might be slow going and she was okay with that. I am so happy we decided to rent bikes, the island is only nine miles long, but biking allowed us to see all we wanted to and do it at our own pace and it was affordable. We started out well taking the coastal road and stopping from time to time to snap photos of our beautiful surroundings.
But of course I had to mess it up, it was completely my fault and could have been avoided if I was willing to be a bit immodest. I chose to be decent and try and pull down my shirt so my underwear wasn't hanging out for the walkers to blush at, but being unused to biking and not use to hand brakes I lost my balance and rammed into a wall, covered in thorny raspberry bushes. I survived and things are not as bad as they look, but I did walk away with a nasty gash on my left hand and a few cuts from thorns on my right (yes there are pictures). We were unfortunately a few kilometers away from anything and I had to ride with my hand uncomfortably perched. Norah was great about it, laughing at me the entire time (I forgot to mention I also was covered in berries when I straightened my self out). I asked a few other bikers if they had any band-aids but they simply looked at my hand in disgust and shook their heads no. We did eventually get a band-aid from some lovely women in a gift shop, they looked positively horrified as I showed it to them, probably clucking to themselves as I walked out about how worried my poor mother would be if she knew.
But of course I had to mess it up, it was completely my fault and could have been avoided if I was willing to be a bit immodest. I chose to be decent and try and pull down my shirt so my underwear wasn't hanging out for the walkers to blush at, but being unused to biking and not use to hand brakes I lost my balance and rammed into a wall, covered in thorny raspberry bushes. I survived and things are not as bad as they look, but I did walk away with a nasty gash on my left hand and a few cuts from thorns on my right (yes there are pictures). We were unfortunately a few kilometers away from anything and I had to ride with my hand uncomfortably perched. Norah was great about it, laughing at me the entire time (I forgot to mention I also was covered in berries when I straightened my self out). I asked a few other bikers if they had any band-aids but they simply looked at my hand in disgust and shook their heads no. We did eventually get a band-aid from some lovely women in a gift shop, they looked positively horrified as I showed it to them, probably clucking to themselves as I walked out about how worried my poor mother would be if she knew.
Continuing on though we stopped at Seal Cove, although there were no seals to be seen, at least not clearly. We also stopped at a beautiful beach, as you will see from the photos, it felt more like a tropical oasis than the cool coast of Ireland. We journeyed on to our main destination the ancient fort Dun Aengus. I can't tell you much about the history of the fort, and honestly while impressive it was just a series of rock walls, a sight we had been seeing all day. The truly spectacular thing about Dun Aengus is its setting on top of sheer cliffs. I actually enjoyed these cliffs more than the Cliffs of Mohr, even if there were no great crashing waves. We took a lot of pictures but mostly sat in amazement of our fortune and also in terror of the hike back down.
Our bike back was almost completely uphill as we took the road up to the highest point on the island, the lighthouse. I did not do well with the hills, I jumped off my bike frequently and walked and yes I might have yelled a few expletives about the lighthouse as I did this, much to the Irish residents' amusement. We arrived at the lighthouse but decided not to walk up to it and the rest of the journey was an easy coast downhill.
We arrived back in the main town, Kilronan, with two hours to spare. We returned our bikes and used the deposit to buy lunch. I did include a picture of the food only to prove to you that I....ate seafood! Yes, I decided while I am here I want to try some seafood since I figured it would be fresh here and probably well prepared. I only ate chowder today with my sandwich, I am not sure if it was oyster or clam I ate, but I didn't really like it. I tried a bit of Norah's salmon and was pleased with that, I will try it again. I am interested in trying shellfish, lobster or crab while I am here but I thought I'd wait til my parents are around to pick up the check (our whole day cost us under 50 euro). After our meal we caught the five o'clock ferry back, caught our bus and still had time to stop at the pharmacy and pick up some first aid for my hand. I am exhausted but the day was well worth it.
Enjoy the pictures, I'm going out for a pint I deserve it.
Absolutely beautiful Maura! I'm proud that you arrived early for the ferry and tried seafood-it won't kill you. I'm glad your tetanus shot is up to date. Take care of your open wound.
ReplyDeleteLove, Mom
I almost fainted while viewing your gash picture! Just kidding, but it does look a little gross. I hope it is healing well, I'm sure the pint will help.
ReplyDeleteI ditto your mother-Absolutely beautiful! I feel like I'm in Ireland with you as I read and gaze on your photos. And by the way I love your puns.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Aunt Mary Pat