Inishmore – What a day!

I woke up on my second day on Inishmore to a wonderful breakfast at Cliona’s house.  Then, I packed up my rain gear, camera, water bottle and snacks for my outing on my rented bicycle.  It was a beautiful, warm day with a mix of sun and cloud and little wind.  A great day for cycling!

My first destination was the “Worm Hole”, a remarkable pool made by nature in a perfect rectangle.  It’s hard to believe that it is not man made!  The pool became widely known when Red Bull sponsored a diving competition there (look it up on youtube!)

Cliona let me know how to find the pool which is on the western side of the island.  First, I travelled on a rough, back road that crossed the island and then travelled northwards, towards Dun Aengus.  There was not a soul on that road, and I couldn’t stop taking pictures of the fences and fields.

As I walked back, I looked more closely at the cliff face.  (It is difficult to see, but in the photo above, the person standing on the lighter coloured rock has a huge amount of rock above their head.)  The limestone cliffs are being eroded at their forward edge by the action of the sea, but also by rain which falls from above and seeps down the cracks in the limestone.  Both physical and chemical weathering occur because as the rain mixes with carbon dioxide in the air, a mild carbonic acid is created which slowly dissolves the limestone.

When the rainwater finds a seam of weaker, softer rock, that rock erodes more quickly…

…leading to overhanging portions of rock which eventually give way catastrophically, as in the photo below.  This geology lesso is important for later in the afternoon!

After recrossing the island to the eastern side, my next stop was Kilmurvy Beach, a beautiful, curving beach with soft white sand, lovely green and blue water, and a view of the Connemara mountains across the water.

I walked the length of the beach barefoot, tried out the very very very cold water for about two seconds, and then amused myself for awhile organizing limpets and a gull’s feather for some nature art.  (At Dun Aengus, almost 8 tonnes of limpet shells were found during the excavations!!)

 

After my time at the beach,  I cycled back south in order to go visit Dun Duchathair, the “Black Fort”.  Unlike Dun Aengus which is protected and operated by Heritage Ireland, the black fort has no admission fee, no interpretive centre, and as far as I know, no geotechnical engineer vouching for the safety of the site for it too, sits perched on the edge of highly undercut cliffs.

As I walked over and around to the promontory, there was a jumbled field of upright rocks.  This was also present before the outer walls at Dun Aengus, and is presumed to be the remnants of a sort of spiky line of defense against any oncoming invaders.

I got closer to the fort, but was wary about going out onto the promontory until I saw a family of 5, with three young daughters, come out from behind the wall on the left.  If they can do it, I can do it…

Phew!  What an adventure!  I was exhilirated, but slowly getting tired too.  I rode my bike to the main village, Kilronin, to pick up an easy lunch at the Spar grocery store.  Juice, banana, a scone with butter and jam, and yummy Irish bacon left over from my breakfast.  I rode again south of the village, around a beautiful sweeping bay edged with white sand to find a place on the rocks for my picnic.

A beautiful place, a beautiful summer afternoon that reminded me of that feeling you get on Hornby Island, and suddenly I missed my family so much.  It was the first time I have felt lonely on this trip.  I was just feeling so sad that they could not be here with me, enjoying this special island.

I cycled further to even more beautiful beaches, edged with sanddunes.

It was almost unbearable!  Knowing that I had to leave the next day, with so much still explore, and yet tired from my big day.  Here are a few other scenes from the beautiful Aran island of Inishmore.