Weeks before the trip I began reading Tim robinson books, he is in the family of writers like Thoreau and Muir and Annie Dillard.  He spent years meticulously studying both the Aran Islands and Connemara and making maps of both places.  He writes with a mix of history, folklore, poetry, and minute details of the landscape.  He satisfies my curiosity, as someone who has studied the places I have now only glanced at.

"All of the graves in the cemetery face East to greet the dawn of the last day, except that of Father Francis O'Flaherty, who will rise facing his flock."    --Tim Robinson

So many times on this day we stopped our bikes, looked around and said "We are riding bikes on an Island in Ireland, look where we are!"

When I was cozy on the couch back in the states planning the trip, I dreamed about strolling around on bikes in Ireland, smiling with wind in my hair and a smile on my face.   Reality was a bit different, riding the bikes was hilariously difficult, the roads were rarely paved, usually it was grass and lots of rocks and felt much more like mountain biking, but it was worth it!  There was wind in my hair but it was because we were going down steep steep hills with the bikes bouncing off large rocks and me feeling more like I was in a BMX race than on a quiet island.

We were trying to get to what is called the black fort but we missed the path,and ended up at a remote cemetery. Steve stayed below to study the map and I climbed up the embankment to walk in the tall grass.   On one side was the sea and on the other farmland dotted by homes.  The church has been there so long that sand has buried it, I could look down into it, as though it was a basement.  The name of this little stone church is Cill Einne which is translated The Church of Edna, founded in the late 5th century.

We took another path toward the smallest church in Ireland and came upon an old farmer, leaning on his stone wall, watching the day go by.  We stayed and talked to him a while, he spent most of the time with his eyes taking in the landscape and his only explanation was that the weather has been such a relief, to be able to get out of the house and feel the sun instead of the constant rain.  He was wearing a thick knitted sweater and had his cap in his hands.  I had my eyes on the geography of his face, with its deep lines filled with hints of salty air, soil, sun, and rain.  I would have given up the afternoon to  photograph him and listen to the stories I know he has tucked away. 

"It was one of the best sort of Aran days, dazzling and gusty, boisterously generous to the eyes and lungs."     ---Tim Robinson

Letting go of fear

Seafood chowder and scones with a view of an older man on a horse and buggy out the window.  The little resteraunt had all the doors and windows open, letting a nice Aran Island breeze come through and season the comfort food.

I sat in the soft grass and studied the stone walls, took detail shots of flowers, watched the clouds go by and enjoyed being completely alone with Steve, so alone it felt like we were on a deserted Island that we got to explore together.

The black fort  (yes, we did find it eventually) where we spent most of our time.  No one knows for sure when it was built, some say the Iron age, some say Vikings built it and the monks were terrified of them, the locals say that it was built to keep out wild pigs that used to roam freely on the island. 

In person it is massive, twenty feet high in some spots with a tunnel going through the thick wall.  Above you can see the remains of stone huts, that now look more like nests.

One of the many colorful homes

Coco got all hyperactive when she saw this photo, squealing about the color pink and how she wishes the other side could be purple.  It is like she has been studying a handbook on how to act like a girl.

I believe that in Ireland they use color as a form of color therapy from all the dark rainy days. I collected a list of some of the colors I saw:

Peach

bright sage

terra cotta

cobalt blue

red

turquoise

periwinkle

all shades of purple

blue/mustard/peach (three connecting homes)

an all glass building like what  you would see in NYC and then a thatch home next it (this has nothing to do with color except that my eyes were happy with the contrast)

lavender with red trim

strong yellows

Pinks

Right outside the little restaurant they have a stone wall where most people left their bikes

Waiting for the ferry to take us home