The day dawned chill and clear. A light mist floated above the ocean. Gulls circled oer’head and the clarion call of a church bell was heard in the distance.
Or something. Should I write more purple prose? Please comment below.
That said, those are the sorts of thoughts and feelings you have when heading to such a forbidding / mysterious / imposing / impressive place – such as Skellig Micheal is.
We took the boat across (with Padjo) and it wasn’t the smoothest of rides over. Stunning though.
On the approach you start to get … quieter .. I suppose. It’s just ‘awesome’. In the breath-word-taking sense of the word (to borrow from Eddie Izzard – not in the “this is an awesome hotdog” sense of the word). As you get closer one of the staircases (there are three) that *used* to be used, becomes visible.
And you start thinking (or I did) “please, I don’t want to climb up that”. Fortunately the stairs that you do climb are round the back of the Island – and rather safer than the ones pictured above.
Actually getting off the boat onto the Island is definitely the scariest part of the journey. You have to step off the boat onto some slippery narrow steps. It’s all fine as long as you get it – but getting squished between the boat and the bank would have to be a nasty way to go. I was most impressed that mum waltzed up and off the boat. Slightly put the pressure on really.
The monastic settlement itself is way above the ocean below (surprisingly high – I’d not really realised) and was occupied from about the 7th Century for about 500 years or so. Quite the hermitage.
It’s a ridiculous place – absolutely awe inspiring. Here’s a short video taken from just above the huts.
After that it was back down to the boat, and back to the mainland. On the way back you go past Little Skellig – which is the second?! largest gannet colony in the world. The Island has never been inhabited by mankind.
Next, it was onto Valentia Island to view the museum, and onwards to look for some Dinasour (Tetrapod) footprints. This was a lizard like creature who left some muddy foodprints (and a tail swish) about 415 million years ago.
Finally back to the house, a lovely sunset, and some great family times – reading is especially sociable ;)
Leave a Reply