May The Wind Be At Your Back On Inish Mor

Ida, Paula and I rallied after the late night Irish music fest/wedding party to meet the group for breakfast and catch the 9 am ferry to Irish Mor, the largest of the Aran Islands and site of some of the filming of Banshees film.  The ride was a bit bouncy but everyone retained their breakfast.  Trudy had arranged for us to take a jaunty cart tour with Martin.  His father and brother are also jaunty cart drivers.

 Martin was born and raised on Inish Mor, left to go to college and spent time working in Galway and Australia.  He moved back with his wife and 3 year old child to have more quality time.  He took one look at us and inquired as to whether we might need a stop in the pub to clear the head before settting out.  We declined but did get hot coffee and bundled up in the Irish woolen blankets.  The wind coming into the jaunty cart was more than brisk which led Ida to comment “This must be why the blessing is May the Wind Be always At your Back.”  

As we set out for the drive Martin gave us an overview of the island - 800 residents, electricity since the 1970s, 3 schools, 3 cemeteries, 3 pubs, 3 churches and only 1 forgiving priest.   Inish Mor is stunning with very different scenery.  You can see the ocean everywhere.  The traditional rock walls, sheep and cattle but the plots are much smaller than on the mainland.  As he entertained us with his family history and the history of Ireland and the islands, he suggested we do the first hike up to the ruins of a stone fort, then have lunch at the pub, followed by a hike to the worm hole.  The hike to the fort was not to bad as there was a clear path and the rock stairs were navigable.  Though there must be a lot of issues with people falling as the warning signs were everywhere.  The views were fabulous. We stopped in the small pub for the classic soup of the day choices- tomato or cream of vegetable with brown bread.  Only Nan dared to go with a Guinness .

After lunch, Martin drove around the side of the island where the wind was at our back which was definitely more comfortable.  Trudy had warned us that the worm hole (a natural tidal pool carved out of the granite) hike required sturdy shoes and balance.  Martin said he was certain we could handle it and that 99% of the people find the hole and return.  It’s a crazy hike with no real trail and pretty much all boulders.  Red Bull had a contest a few years back where people jumped from the cliff into the worm hole so every once in a while we managed to find an arrow directing us.  Again the views were stunning but caution is need -  someone from another group slipped and fell into an algae pool.  We wrapped up the hike and found Martin chatting with a neighbor.  Ida commented that they had made up theirs hikes to keep the tourists busy while they chatted. Martin took us back to the pier to catch the ferry with enough time for a pint at Tigh Joe MacDonough’s where we raised a toast to my friend’s father, Joseph Patrick McDonough.

For our return ferry, we also went to see the Cliffs of Moher from below.  This turned out to be a very rough ride and while no one in our group had an issue the crew had to help several people who got hurly.  We wrapped up the day with a five star meal at Fiddle & Bow then returned to McDermott’s for another night of Irish music and craic.