We woke up to lashing rain this morning and as we looked out the window we thought, “Oh No!” It was bucketing down and today was our day to go to Inish Mor, the largest of the Aran Islands. We put the Child of Prague in the garden-the story goes that when you do this the rain clears up-and lo and behold by the time we got half way to the ferry, the sun had started to pop through and things were looking up.
We had an early start to get to Rossaveal for the 10.30 AM ferry and as we sailed across there were a few brave souls that ventured outside to stand on the deck and watch Galway fade into the distance. The boat was packed with tourists heading over for the day and our kids had to run to get in front of the German tourists before they took up all the seats! When we got off the ferry, we rented our bikes as they are by far the best way to see the island. When the kids had listened to the safety talk-cycle on the left, use the left hand brake and don’t go too fast-they were free to explore the island and off they went.
The ILE Staff were slow-we are all a lot more unfit than what we thought with the exception of Kent and Miles-and by the time we reached the beach some of the kids were playing Frisbee and getting ready to swim. Angie dipped her toe in the water and immediately thought it was way too cold and retreated to the safety of the beach. Clare M. and Siobhan managed to brave the cold waters and there were a few girls who collected stones with holes in them. Perfect for making unique necklaces.
Some of kids cycled further to Dun Aengus, three spectacular forts which stand guard over Inish Mor at a height of 200 feet and which date back over 2000 years. Clare B. said it was really fun to look over the edge (Watched by guards.) and thought it was even better than the Cliffs of Moher.
Casey, Miles, and Taryn decided to venture off and find the Puffing Hole on Inishmore. They took their bikes on some off road terrain and proceeded to climb down some pretty treacherous cliffs. Taryn was a little apprehensive at first, as she didn’t know how she would maneuver her body back over some of these ledges. Miles guaranteed he would help her. They eventually found the impressive site, took some slow-mo/hyper lapse videos, selfies, and jumping pictures.
Everyone met back at the ferry at 4:30 PM with some Aran sweater purchases and many stories of their wonderful day to tell. The bus journey home was pretty quiet as some of the kids drifted off into dreamland, only to be woken up to the sound of our favorite ILE song blasting compliments of Brian Farrell. As the kids belted out the chorus of Cows With Guns, we turned on to campus to people staring at the sight of a bus load of kids and adults singing about cows with their arms raised in the air-it must’ve have seemed very bizarre for any on lookers although they were treated to a vision.
So as our day draws to a close our ILE group of 2015 will be going home with sun tans after a wonderful day, hot weather, and a bucket load of craic.
One more day. Ahhh!
