Biking Around Inis Mor, Aran Islands

Today was beyond spectacular.  After a rainy day (which I used to get over my jet lag), the weather was absolutely perfect.  It was 62 and sunny, a bit windy but perfect for a few (well, about 6) hours of biking around the island.  I feel embarassed to admit this but I actually teared up at one point because the view was so grand - overlooking the ocean from a Celtic fort built on the edge of a cliff around oh, 1100 BC! Dun Aonghasa, check it out online.  Anyway, I felt so lucky to be here and see this place.  I also biked around the old lighthouse, several grumbling churches and saw the remnants of a castle built around 1587. 

I also had my first try at really understanding the road system here.

  I think Americans like too much order and rules. I mean, here it operates by common sense.  There is no middle line drawn in the road.  You just give way to one another.  At some points there were folks on bikes, on foot, in cars, and in a horse drawn buggy, all trying to pass each other on a road that barely fits one car.  It worked out just fine!

I biked from one end of the island to the other today, but I am contemplating another night here as I realized I have time as I don't leave Ireland for two more weeks from tomorrow.  The gal I've been bunking with is actually staying another month and working here.  She's only 19 and lived in S. Africa and is now really just bumming the world.  Awesome.  The folks here at the hostel are great though.

  I hiked here in the rain yesterday for about 30 minutes on the chance they'd have a bed and here I am.  I guess they are a bit picky about who stays thank goodness.  Tomorrow is a bank holiday so everything is busy...not sure what the holiday is.  I think the bank just closes, giving everyone an excuse to stay out late Sunday night as well. 

So one of the guys who works here in the summer is from New Zealand and has a hostel there.  So I have his information for next year for sure.  I've been asked by many if I've already been to NZ due to the necklace D gave me as a going away gift.  Eventually I tell them...

So tonight I'm gonna go hang with some of the folks from the hostel at a local pub.  Well, gonna try to download some pics now.  They still can't capture the beauty that is Ireland.