One of my most dangerous superpowers is accepting dares from friends who I know are out to destroy me… Livonne

Ahhhh, Ireland has put on yet another spectacular day for us today. We woke up before our alarm, knowing we had to get to the docks to catch the ferry to Inismor. I opened the curtains and to my surprise there was a guy on a roof a house or two over from us. He was fixing the chimney I think, but it wasn’t what I expected to see when I opened the window. And we were on the first floor again. I didn’t tell you about our accommodation did I? We booked two nights in a little guesthouse called Asgard in Galway. The owner Fergal greeted us when we got here last night and was more than helpful, carrying both of our suitcases at once. We were on the first floor so more stairs but at least we weren’t lugging suitcases.

We got dressed and were out the door before we needed to be but we wanted to make sure we were at the right place. We found the parking and wandered over to the ferry figuring we would get some breakfast on there. We boarded and were a bit disappointed to learn that while we could get tea and coffee, there was no other food but chocolate. It was roughly a 90 minute ferry ride, so we opted for some chocolate. but it didn’t sit well. But we enjoyed the ride. I absolutely love travelling by water so I just sat back and relished the whole trip. At 11am we disembarked at Kilronan on Inismor.

When I first came here 11 years ago, I fell madly in love with this place. It is primitive and you get an idea of what early Ireland might have been like. If you get a chance, watch the movie, Man of Aran and you may get an idea of how hard life must have been for the inhabitants of the islands. If you’ve never heard of the Aran Islands, look them up. They are off the coast of Galway and are just magical. I originally wanted to go because part of the movie, Leap Year was filmed there and it’s a favourite of mine. When I got there, I forgot the movie and connected with the landscape, rugged as it is as well as the whole lifestyle. My dream would be to have a residency there where I could write for a few months while immersing myself into the island life.

Back to Kilronan, waiting at the dock when we arrived, were all sorts of tour operators wanting to take us on a tour around the island. I spotted Noel, the guy who took us around 11 years ago when I was there, so went with him. It was 25 euro each but it is such a comprehensive tour. We started the journey on the narrow little lanes, with stone fences either side, up to Dun Aengus. Dun Aengus is a 3000 year old round fort atop the rugged, steep cliffs high above Inismor. As we got closer, I remembed just how steep it was and how wrecked I was after I did it last time. I let Cecile know this and she seemed to agree not to do it.

So when we got to the little village near where you walk up to the fort, we went into the little cafe there and ordered some soup. Oh my goodness. Last time I was there, I ordered the tomato soup and it was divine. Hot, tasty, filling and definitely home made. I ordered it again this time and Cecile ordered the vegetable soup, which she says was equally great. When we finished that we headed out into a few of the shops there. As we were shopping, Cecile decided we should climb Dun Aengus after all. I explained to her that it was very steep and not easy to do but she was hell bent on doing it. Her words, ‘we can do it’ will echo in my memory for years to come. I mean, we are two women in our 60s who lead reasonably sedentary lifestyles, we are definitely not risk takers and we both have bung knees.

But she insisted that we could do it. Well, her words said ‘we can do it’ but all I heard was, ‘I double dog dare you’ and I cannot resist a double dog dare. So, meekly I agreed, groaning at the thought of that bloody climb. The fort sits at the top of a 100 metre cliff and the walk up is about a kilometre on a steep incline. I’m no good at math, especially geometry, so you’ll have to work out that incline on your own. All I can say is it is steep… bloody steep! The path is gravel pretty much most of the way, and suddenly, nearer the top, it becomes very rocky and you find yourself walking over uneven, rough, natural rock tesselations, some of which are extremely slippery from the vast amount of visitors who take the path everyday. They aren’t steps as such, just uneven rises and falls, so you have to pick your way up over them so as not to fall.

Well, she was right, we could do it. We did done Dun Aengus and Dun Aengus did done us in. We wandered around a bit up there, going close to the edge without taking risks (not risk takers remember) and then we were going to head back down again. It amazes me that there are no barriers or signs up there. In Australia, that sort of beauty would be polluted with signs telling us to be careful. I mean are we are a stupid nation who need to be protected from ourselves? People roam around close to the edge but I didn’t see anyone taking unneccesary risks. And the view is uninterrupted and stunning.

We had allowed ourselves half an hour to get back down as that was when the bus would be leaving that village and onto the rest of the tour. The trip down was really hard on our knees and was reasonably slow for the first part. By the time we reached the gravel part, I heard a call of nature and went down the hill so much quicker than I expected to. Thankfully there were toilets at the bottom waiting and by the time she got down the bottom, we were both ready to jump on the bus so any shopping had to wait.

We kept travelling further around to the ruins of the 7 churches where there are some Roman soldiers buried dating back to 800AD. We wandered through the graveyard there and took lots of pics and then back on the bus. I honestly don’t know how they drive those buses around those roads.. Especially with other vehicles coming the other way. On one of the narrow roads, we met a tractor and I think we were all breathing in trying to be thin. We finished the tour of the island, and then went to the Aran Sweater Market where we got a few things. A quick hot chocolate and scone was purchased to take onto the ferry (no more chocolate for us) and we were soon heading across the water to the Cliffs of Moher. On the way, we passed Inis Oirr which is where some of Father Ted was filmed. We didn’t stop there but went past close enough to see some stuff. By this time, my phone had died, so some of the pics I have posted were taken by Cecile.

We got to the base of the Cliffs of Moher but it was hard to get too many photos as everyone was clamouring towards the outer decks for a good vantage point. I got some on my camera, but none on the dead phone. By the time we’d battled for a good space to take a few photos we were both a bit exhausted so just sat inside and enjoyed the scenery and being off our feet. The climb was now really taking it’s toll and we were feeling every minute of our age.

We disembarked back in Galway and went to drive out of the car park we were in. As we got to the boom gate, it turned out you couldn’t pay at the gate, so we had to back out and go find the ticket machine.. It was ages away and as I walked, my legs kept shouting obscenities at me. We drove to a pub near where we are staying for dinner.

The Huntsman in Galway is a gastropub and I think there is accommodation there too. We had a great meal. I had fish and chips with salad and Cecile had salmon with vegies. It was really tasty and much better than chocolate for breakfast. By the time we were finished eating, our eyes were starting to close so we took the quick trip back to our accommodation and before we could sit down, we were showered and ready for bed. Now about to have a cuppa before sleep but it certainly isn’t far away tonight. There is however so much groaning coming from both of us as our bodies pay us back for making the dumb decision to climb.

Tomorrow we head to Limerick, where my beloved grandmother was from. The really exciting thing is, I’ll be meeting a cousin there. I’ve never met any of the Irish cousins so I am so excited about meeting her. So while the kettle boils, I will say oíche mhaith which google translate tells me means goodnight in the Irish.

Happy being off my feet… Livvy xxx