Quick Aran Islands note

Sarah did an admirable job of keeping the blog going with the Aran posts - hats off to her.  I added a bit of colour commentary to the last few posts.   A couple of other thoughts about Inis Mor:

• Yes, they sell traditional Aran Island sweaters there, and they're very nice.
• There's quite a bit of livestock scattered about the island, though not too densely - mostly cows and goats, followed by horses, chickens, donkeys and others.
• There are pheasants all over the place - you can hear them squawking all day long.  You can even see them, as there is no long grass to hide in (their usual habitat).  I can't imagine that they're native, but there seems to be a lack of natural predators, so they flourish.
• In Victorian times there were "kelp factories" on the island.  They made hemp-like fibre (I believe), and there were even factories that extracted iodine from the kelp.  Some man-made lagoons from these times still exist.  Lots of kelp around still - you often get a sulphur-y whiff at low tide.
• Inis Mor appears to have two and only two land-based natural resources: tiny bits of scrub grass/shrubs, and LOTS of rock.  The whole island is a big limestone rock, with smaller chunks of rock scattered everywhere.  It's obvious that growing crops is impossible, other than a small garden plot here and there where someone has managed to save up some dirt over many generations.  Animals able to graze on the short, stubby grass were clearly a better food source - hence the grazing livestock.
• This brings up the stone fences.  The ENTIRE island - 12 km long, around 2 km wide - is a latticework of stone fences between 2 and 8 feet high.  These don't just divide the island into big fields, they divide it into very small yards or pens.  I can't imagine how much labour or how many generations it took to do this work.  However, the fences seem to be a by-product of rock-clearing efforts: I think the fences were simply the most efficient way to stack the loose rocks that were cleared in order to make room for a bit of grazing area.  And since there aren't any trees for fence posts or rails, rocks are a good choice for a fence.  You could easily cover the whole island with the rocks that are stacked into fences.

Sorry for the pictureless post.  Next ones will have more to look at.

More Inis Mor - Day 2 on the Aran Islands

On Day 2 we rented bikes and rode the island head to toe.  It was about 24 km round trip, plus detours, and - unlike Bruges - not all of it is flat.  Chad rocked the hills but some walking was required on my part.  It was super windy, but we had another gorgeous sunny day.

Don't worry, I didn't gain 50 pounds. I'm just wearing many layers as I stand on this windswept beach!

A stop of note was at the big stone fort that is the island's star attraction - Dun Aonghasa.  It's much more developed and rebuilt than the Black Fort, including a tourist centre giving the history of forts in this area (they date back to 1100 BC and haven't been used for over 1,000 years).  We were lucky enough to get there before most of the day's tourists got off the morning ferry, rented their bikes, and caught up to us.

After that we biked to the end of the island, where fishing looks to be the activity of choice.

Chad befriended this donkey while waiting for me at the top of a hill.

Coming back from the end of the island.

The rocky coast.

Not the most seaworthy fishing boat.

Our last big stop was the tower at the top of the island where we found - you guessed it - another fort.

And that was the end of our Aran Island adventure.  We caught the 5 pm ferry back to Galway.

Where we had one last Galway Hooker at our favourite local bar while listening to some more live music.

And then it was up early this morning to head north for Sligo.  Stay tuned, as our laptop is almost out of battery and I am out of blogging energy.

The Amazing Aran Islands - Day 1

A much touted day or overnight trip from Galway is to the Gaelic speaking Aran Islands, just off the west coast.  There are three - from largest to smallest they are Inis Mor, Inis Meain, and Inis Orr.  We decided to take an overnight trip to Inis Mor and spent two full days there.  The tourist board doesn't have to pay me to say that they are amazing.  We lucked out with fantastic weather and spent the days hiking and biking all over the island.  I am not exaggerating that we took hundreds of photos, so here are just a few of the best.

Okay, so maybe the weather wasn't fantastic the entire time we were there... Shortly after we decided not to rent bikes on Monday, the weather gods blessed our decision by unleashing a phenomenal rainstorm.  Luckily for our cameras and packs, I had some travel ponchos to keep us and our valuables dry.  Luckily for fashion, it stopped raining after about 20 minutes and we could take the ponchos off!

[Note from Chad: my Mom got Sarah those "emergency ponchos," so we thought we'd try them out.  Unfortunately, they're a little smaller than I thought, and they are basically a jacket replacement - perhaps not so useful when you're already wearing a gore-tex jacket.  Perhaps we'll take these instead of gore-tex to Southeast Asia later.  Unlike Sarah, I think they make a brilliant fashion statement, especially when accessorized with a bucket hat.]

We decided, basically by accident, to hike up to the Black Fort (one of the many ancient forts on the island) while we were waiting for the room at our B&B to be ready.  This turned out to be an awesome decision - hardly any other tourists go up there.  We shared the spot for a while with a group of French hikers but it was otherwise deserted.  Maybe it's because it's not easily accessible by bike, and thus not highlighted on the bike rental companies' maps that are handed out to everyone stepping off the ferry.  But for whatever reason we had the cliffs and the fort almost to ourselves.

Stone walls as far as the eye can see.

Action shot from the top of the cliffs.  Don't worry, I'm just taking a photo, not thinking of a really creative way to jump off.

And then there's the fort itself.

Good luck attacking this coast line.

Only three sides required - there's no way anyone is getting up the cliffs on the fourth side!

[Note from Chad: these forts were first built in the Bronze Age - probably for wealthy/ruling families, since most of a settlement would have to live outside the walls (no room inside).  The semicircles would have been small houses with thatched roofs.  The inside of the fort has terraced walls so you can easily get up to the top to defend attacks.  Being on a clifftop not only cuts off that side from attack, but also is a show of strength to anyone cruising by.  The stones have no mortar - they're just stacked.  But the walls are vertical, and obviously the result of good craftsmanship.]

Ruler of the fort for the day.

Followed by the long walk home.

We spent the evening at a local pub where Chad ate fresh fish caught by a local fisherman and befriended the musician playing that night by dropping his Irish last name.  A great first day!

[Note from Chad: Jimmy Corgan was the session musician.  When he found out my last name was McCarthy, he sat at our table (beside the peat-briquette fire) and played a couple of songs by Jimmy McCarty (closest he could get to my name, I guess), an Irish jockey-turned-folk-song-composer.]