Wednesday morning we hopped the train in Kilkenny bound for Galway. Since Dublin is basically the hub of Ireland, this meant traveling back to Dublin, changing trains, and then tracing our route for the third time back to the point where the tracks diverged towards Galway. It was nice when we got to start seeing some fresh scenery. We did pass a number of peat fields, and even saw a few piles of peat blocks drying. Peated whiskey has to come from somewhere! The further west we got, the more we also were seeing stone walled fields, something Mike remembers strongly from his trip here 40 years ago.

We had a few hours in Galway, so checked our bags and wandered around a bit. Seems like an interesting place we will enjoy exploring further in a few days.

Then we got on the shuttle bus to take us to the boat out to the Aran Islands, specifically Inis Mor. It was a wonderful ride along the shore and through the country side. It was not conducive however to picture taking through the dirty and scratched windows, not to mention the constant lurching.

The boat ride out was around 40 minutes. Our hotel was right at the end of the pier which made checking in easy.

The next day we had decided to rent bikes and ride around the island. Touring Island, which is maybe 8 miles long, is the main thing to do here. There is not very much town, given that the population of the whole island is around 900. There are three options for touring, you can ride a bike (there are 4 bike rental shops near the pier), you can take one of the small tour busses, or you can ride in a horse drawn wagon. All three are popular.

It was raining when we headed down to rent our bikes. On our own we might have chickened out at that moment, but Julie and Lisa were hung ho, so we went for it, and boy were we glad we did! By the time we were ready to ride the rain had quit and it stayed dry for the rest of day.

Today turned into an undoubted highlight of the trip. Riding down the one lane roads with almost no cars was fantastic. The main problem was that we had to stop every few hundred feet to take pictures. If it was not the incredible stone walled fields, it was a view out to sea, or a friendly horse, or goats perched on a ledge, or a scenic ruin.
After a couple hours we made it the 4 miles (jeez, we could have walked faster than that) to the visitor center for an old stone fort. Naturally we could not pass that up. It was quite a hike up, but blew us away once we got there. And I mean that both literally and figuratively. The winds were something fierce, and the fort was at the top of a cliff dropping straight down to the ocean. As Americans used to our nanny state way of doing things back home, we were amazed to see not a guard rail in sight!

We then headed back on a different road on our bikes, trying to stay ahead of the horse wagon behind us between picture stops. Once back in the main village we spent a bit of time checking out Aran Island sweaters for sale. We learned that most of them are made in a factory on the mainland but using traditional patterns from the islands. But they were nice and we did make a few purchases.

In the evening we headed down to a restaurant that had been recommended. The special was locally caught monkfish, so we had to try that. If you have ever seen one, it is one ugly fish, but extremely tasty. At dinner Mike also tried several more whiskeys. So far the favorite is Writers Tears.