When we first started planning this trip, I was trying to figure out how we were going to get around Ireland without renting our own car and driving ourselves. I was getting nowhere fast. Our help came from on high, well geographically speaking that is. Our friend Sandi suggested her friend Walter Rice at Waldorf Travel in Portland (that's where the "on high" - northwest- comes from). He put this trip together for us through a travel agent colleague in Edinburgh. She found our driver, filled in the gaps in our lodging, etc. etc. it has worked out great!
Which leads me to the Aran Islands. Of course I wanted to visit them, but Walter made it happen. We had a ball!
As it was a lovely day we took the ferry from Doolin. First we stopped on Inishmeer for an hour.
I dipped my toes into the amazingly warm waters.
Then we arrived at Inishmore, the biggest of the Aran Islands. Walter set us up for two nights there.
We HAD to check out the Aran Islands Sweater Market where I bought some yarn and Jerry a sweater. Doesn't he look great?!
Of course my knitting buddies know that I've been dying to knit Jerry a sweater for years, but oh well.
Our big adventure that day was to rent a couple of bikes and explore the island. What a blast!
First we biked to the far end of the island to see The Seven Churches of Aran, a complex of ancient Celtic ruins and graveyard.
But the biggest thrill was the fantastic Dunn Aenghus, a 2000 year old Iron Age fort perched on a hill overlooking the wild Atlantic. We walked up to the gate to the fort which you can see on the horizon in the first picture. The next pics are the views from the top.
The school kids were kept way away from the cliff face and had to see the ocean like this!
The terrain on the Aran Islands is quite rocky. There is plenty of limestone around to make these stone walls.
What a day we had! Now we are wrapping up our trip with a day hiking in the Burren. More on that later.
All the best,
Mary and Jerry
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