So we've left Athlone, cleaned out the apartment - gave most of our house hold belongings to Michelle. She's a neighbor who is a social worker and knows of folks that can use our stuff. Before leaving for the states, we decided to give ourselves one last mini-holiday and headed to Doolin.
We stayed in a wonderful B&B - Aran View House Hotel, and yes, we can see Inisheer from our room. Innis Oirr aka Inisheer is the smallest of the 3 Aran Islands. Our B&B is just a few minutes from the town center. In fact I believe everyone staying at the B&B is an American. We found McDermotts Pub just down the road, quite enjoyable for dinner and enjoyed some good Irish music.
After a yummy breakfast and chatting with Sharon, part owner of Aran View House, we decided to visit the island. We had planned to hike across the cliffs, but the weather has been so warm these past few days we decided it was a glorious day for a boat ride. Sharon and her kids go out there just to spend the day at the beach. The water is so clear. We'd spent so much time watching the comings and goings on the River Shannon it was high time for us to get out on the water. After seeing how clear the water was I wished I could have jumped in. We did see some dive boats and believe you me, I was tempted!
Caught a ride with Bill O'Brien of Cliff Island Tours and took the 15 minute boat ride to Inisheer.
We must have hired the oldest driver and horse on the island for our tour. This poor old horse did not want to go up or down, and the roads around the island are nothing but up and down. It was a slow tour, and the horse had the worst gas. In addition to the sights, this made for an interesting ride.
We were able to stop off and see the ruins of the shipwreck Plassey. Grounded in 1960, all survived. I was very surprised to see tourists climbing all over the rusty old ship. The island lighthouse has been automated and has no name. After about half way into the ride we decided to hop off and walk to see the ruins of O'Brien Castle.
The horse would have never made it up the steep hill. There is not much left but the keep and again, the tourists climbing all over it. (no respect!) This island has more rock walls then I have seen in any one place, and they are taller than most.
There is a brackish lake that over flows into numerous walled areas in the winter. Our driver indicated that most folks leave in the winter, only a handful stay behind. Summer days they have over 1,000 visitors to the island. There are 30 kids in the schools, they do have primary care, one small grocery store, cafe's and a couple of hotels - a few B&B's and a number of places if you want to pitch a tent. Lots and lots of bike rentals.
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| Frank Wassink |
I noticed a man with a tripod taking lots of photos', figured he'd know how to operate my camera, so I asked him if he would take our picture. OMG this man, Frank Wassink from Denmark is a professional photographer, I'd say he knew what he was doing!! He took one look at my camera, reprimand me for not cleaning my lens, cleaned it, then proceeded to change my lens with his and took our picture. Turned out pretty good. I in turn took his, with my own lens. He gave me a few lessons and pointers on cameras and taking pictures as we chatted.
We took the long way back to the mainland, cruising around the Cliffs of Moher. What a fantastic way to see the cliffs. We have visited the top 3 times now, but this is such a unique experience, and you see so much more. It's wonderful to be on the water when it's so warm with little to no swells and the view was pretty awesome.
