Day 14, 24 May 2012

We woke to a bright, nearly, cloudless day.  It was supposed to be hot and calm, the perfect day to head out to Inis Oirr and see something of the Arran Islands.   The boys and I had done the research when we were down at the beach so we knew what we needed to do.

It was a perfect day to be out and about.

We got down to the ferry at 0900 and bought our tickets, round trip to Inis Oirr and 5 euro extra for the cliffs of Moher cruise.  The boys were free.  Our boat was moored when we got down the pier but they pulled out and stood off while another ferry came in and dropped a couple of people off.  While we were watching a dolphin came in and started jumping around the circling ferry.  We were all excited but Owyn was beside himself.  He loves dolphins and was just so excited he could barely stand it.

The sign says this is a Gael speaking area.

We finally were able to board, happily over the gangplank.  We went down the ladder to the back deck and into the cabin.  I left Tracy and the boys in there and went out on deck to take pictures.  Nana and Granddad were outside as well.  Soon after leaving the dock the boys and Tracy joined me.  It turns out they were getting a little bit sea sick inside.  They were just fine outside.

The ship wreck on the island.

One of the attractions on Inis Orr is the ship wreck.  This vessel hit a submerged rock and was abandoned.  A storm then put it ashore.  Over the years, successive storms have pushed it farther up the beach.

This is a good part of the houses on the island.

Inis Orr only has 300 inhabitants.  They fish, raise cattle and rely on tourism.  There is a larger vessel (than the ferrys) that comes out on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.  That's how they get their vehicles, tractors and groceries. 

The two "castles" on the island.

We sailed past most of the sights on the way in, giving us a good idea for the layout of the island.  There's not a whole lot to see, but we were only going to be there from 1000 to 1400, which worked out to be just about exactly right.

The pier, with only one boat.  When we left there were four here and it was low tide.  The Ferry was dwarfed by the pier.

When we arrived on the island there were horse carts waiting to give tours.  It was a bit pricey but we went for it anyway.  We piled into the back of the cart and off we went, visiting most of the central area of the island.  As we drove he gave us a narrative of what we were seeing.  When he wasn't talking he was singing to his horse.  We actually avoided asking some questions so that we could listen to the singing.

That is a lot of back breaking labor right there.

The island is broken up, into small fields, by stone walls.  This is not some weird property rights thing.  The ground is covered by a layer of rock.  To create fields they go in, with a sledge hammer, and break up the rock.  They then pile it into walls.  The height of the walls shows how rocky the ground was.  To create the soil they bring up sand and seaweed from the beach and mix it with the clay.  Enough of this effort creates a field that can be rotated between farming and animals.

A cleared field.

An uncleared field.

The ship, from the shore side.

During our tour Rhys settled down on the floor of the cart and went to sleep.  Owyn was enraptured by everything that was going on around him and had no interest in a nap.

Rhys as I attempt to wake him up after the tour.

We completed our tour and he dropped us at one of the three pubs on the island.  I carried Rhys off the cart and Owyn got up front for a photo op.  We were all feeling a little peckish by this time so we grabbed some beers and lunch.  It was so beautiful that we sat outside and ate at a picnic table.  The food was pretty good, the Guinness was great and the weather was perfect.

Owyn hamming it up on the cart.

Mama and the boys waiting for their drinks and food.

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The Pub/hotel we had lunch at.  All of the signs are in Gaelic.

I wasn't driving anywhere for hours yet, so Yay Me!  I get a beer.

After lunch we started walking about.  The boys wanted to go to the playground, which seemed like a grand idea to us.  On the way we passed part of the island's bronze age past.  You can't go anywhere in Ireland without tripping over the remains of thousands of years of human habitation.

All the signs are in Gaelic first, perhaps in English afterwards.

The mound and stone wall.

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The location of the buried, bronze age, remains.

We arrived at the play ground, and a spectacular specimen it was, indeed.  The play area is covered with nice sand.  There are plenty of different structures to play on and plenty of scope for mantic running about.

The traditional jungle gym.

One of two digging machines.

The ladies were not interested in a long hike, and the boys were set right there, so Granddad and I headed off to see the castles.  The island is small but it has a good sized hill in the center.  That coupled with the heat meant we saw a lot of sweaty, red faced British and Irish tourists taking breaks beside the road.

An example of some of the walls and fields.  Lots of wall, not much field.

This fortified tower was in ruins before Cromwell got here.

The two towers are close together.

The playground from the tower.  Mama is the orange blob on the left.  Owyn is the smaller orange blob on the zip line.  Rhys is the orange blob to Mama's left.

The cattle on the islands are much smaller than those on the mainland.  They have to be creative about their paddocks too.

This is five terraces, just to get down the side of the hill.

The tower is in bad shape but one of the barrel vault ceilings is still, mostly, intact.

The second tower was built in the 15th century and was shot up a bit by Cromwell's boys, like nearly everything else in Ireland.

An interesting structure.  Now located next to the island's sewage treatment plant.

For shooting down at attackers, and dropping heavy stuff on them.

The main door.  Located on the second floor, and damaged.

After the towers we followed the road around and down through a valley, back to the playground.

There are a few rocks on this small island.

A couple of snails we passed on the road.

When we got back down to the playground the boys were still playing happily.  Nana had been drawing and Mama was supervising the little turd heads.  Owyn managed to fall and bang his lip, meaning both boys had donated their blood to the soil of Ireland.  Granddad wanted to go look at the cemetery.  I went with him while everyone else stayed put.

Give me pouty.  He's actually showing off his split lip.

The cemetery is built on a sand hill, which is growing.  From outside it just looks like a place to bury the dead. 

Nothing out of the ordinary here.

It turns out that the sand hill has been growing for the last thousand years and there are hidden treasures here.  There is the remains of a church here, built in the 10th century.  It would be completely buried if not for the excavation, but even then, you can look at the retaining wall and see where the surface level is several inches above the top in places.

This guy was the brother of the guy who founded the monastery at Glendalough. 

All dry stone construction.

There is also a grave stone.  It is so far below the surface that they build a house over it to give access.

Granddad getting ready to squeeze into the house.

To take a picture of this.

A unique Celtic cross.

This one is fairly new, so nice and crisp.  The harbor is in the background.

The island has an airport with flights coming in from Galway.  It is rather small.

Terminal, control tower and baggage claim.

I'm pretty sure this says drive 50km/h or the sea monster will come and take your soul.  My Gaelic is a little rusty though.

After the cemetery, and the airport we guided our steps back to the playground.  On the way I found a wild bird egg and picked it up to show the boys.  it was broken on top, where the birdlet had escaped or a predator had pried it out.  Upon our return to the playground we found it completely abandoned.  We figured the ladies had grabbed the boys and headed down towards the pier.  Five minutes of walking and we were all reunited.  There were four ferries at the pier, one of them ours, but it was still forty minutes until we were due to leave.  There was a pub just past the ferry landing so we headed over and got another round.  We, again, sat in the sun, soaking it in, while the boys played Star Wars, using two sea shells as communicators.

Once aboard the boat we headed over to the cliffs of Moher to take a look from the seaward approaches. 

They look so cute from here.

The tower is the one we visited two days before.  The rock pinnacle is where a scene from Harry Potter was filmed.

The voyage took about an hour, most of which was spent circling the pile of rock that was used in the filming of a scene from one of the Harry Potter movies.

The white streaks are bird crap.

Once back to the pier we dropped the ladies off to do some shopping and we headed into Doolin to find out what the pub scene was like.  Doolin is famous for its traditional Irish music and both pubs have people playing every night at 2100, so starting at 2130 sharp.  We got the information, Granddad visiting the pubs while I waited in the car with the boys.  The ladies had found a few treasures, and it was back to the house.  Our grand plan to hit the pubs fell through due to exhaustion, but we still had one more night.

One of the two Doolin pubs.

It was an early night, with all of us in bed by 2200.

This is the view from our porch, looking inland, at 2200.