Ireland again

Well since I have a few minutes I'll upload some of the pictures from the trip onto my blog. They are pictures from the Aran Islands off the western coast of Ireland, about nine miles from the Irish coast. The really nice thing about the islands is that they have a sort of micro climate, so even when it is raining and nasty on the mainland, there it is sunny and mild. We spent two days there on Inismore, the biggest of the three islands, and both days it was more sunny than not. We also saw a show of local music put on by the islanders that was fun to watch, even though we could see that they were not professionals. But they seemed to be really enjoying themselves and we could do nothing else but tap along to the music.
Here are a couple of interesting factoids. There are motor vehicules on the island but they are all diesel, the reason being that diesel fuel is less explosive than gasoline and since everything must be brought by boat to the island the insurance would be just too expensive for the boats because of the danger of a gasoline fire. On the islands all the farmland is "made". The foundation of the islands is bare limestone, like the Burrens and pretty much nothing grows, so using sand and seaweed as well as plant debris found inthe cracks and fissures of the limestone the islanders have been "land-making" for millenia. All the fields you see on the island, such as the ones in the picture below are man-made. If you look at the picture of the cliffs you can see what the ground looked like before it was remade.
Also the Aran islands are renowned for their beef cattle, but when the cattle are brought to the mainland they must be provided with a salt lick since they are used to salt in their fodder and will not eat if it is not there.

The roads of the islands


The cliffs on the western side of the island beside Dùn Aonghasa




Dùn Aonghasa is s semi-circular ring fort right on the edge of the cliffs.


The eastern part of the island is lower and less rocky than the western part which faces the Atlantic


The shore line on the other side of the island


Dùn Duchathair (Black Fort) is another ring fort on the edge of the cliffs. This one is off the beaten path so when I hiked up to it from the hotel I was completely alone, only the sea, the cliffs, the wind and the ghosts of the Dùn kept me company. I found it more awe inspiring than the more well preserved Dùn Aonghasa where there were too many tourists.


The cliffs as seen from Dùn Duchathair



A window


The hotel where we stayed. Our room was the second window from the right just below the chimney.


Goodbye to the islands