West of Ireland Photos 2


		Taking the ten minute flight from the mainland to the Aran islands really gives you a sense of how desolate the islands are. The biggest island has less than a thousand inhabitants and Irish is spoken here as a first language.
		The cliffs at the Aran Islands. Barely a tree on the whole island but on both my visits, once in April, once in September, I had perfect weather. The islands are superb for cycling, hiking and getting away from it all.
		Here I am, daringly climbing up a sheer rock face on the Aran islands. Fortunately, gravity meant that I was unlikely to fall very far. How people managed to scrape a living from these islands is incredible. There was a film called Man of Aran made in 1934 by Robert Flaherty (who made Nanook of the North in 1922) which has recently been released on DVD with an Audio CD by British Sea Power.
		Dingle is much smaller than Killarney and a lot less commerical. A cycle around the coastline is breathtaking and well worth the effort.
		Fungi the dolphin. A resident of Dingle harbour, Fungi has been bringing in tourists for over 16 years. I joined a group of mad people, donned a very thick wet suit and swam with fungi for about an hour - in February!
Practical Information For flights to the Aran Islands: http://www.aerarannislands.ie For ferries to the Aran islands: http://www.aranislandferries.com For more information about the islands: http://www.aranislands.ie Where to Next? Dublin Glendalough Back to photos