Day 18: Rest Day - Slowly Pedaling the Emerald Isle - CycleBlaze

June 1, 2024

Day 18: Rest Day

Inisheer Island and Golf

It's a day off the bike and it's going to be a glorious day in County Clare.   We walked 20 minutes to the pier to catch the ferry to Inisheer.  Yesterday we decided to visit the smallest of the Aran Islands instead of going to the biggest and most popular Inishmoor Island.  It's a long weekend and the crowds are arriving.  We've been told by several locals that Inisheer will be quieter and that we will get a better feel for the island village life.  Also, due to expected crowds bikes weren't allowed on the ferries . . . but you could rent them on the island if you wanted.

We're slowly arriving at Inisheer. The ferry ride was supposed to be 15 minutes, but it left 20 minutes early and arrived on time . . . it was a slow crossing that took 35 minutes. But it's a stellar blue sky day.
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susan maaschwe stayed on inishmoor, in kilronan. the island was fun to ride around, and we visited the dun aengus fort.
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6 months ago
We popped into the bike rental place to get a map of the island, and were quite intrigued with the bike parking system. No, we didn't rent bikes . . . we wanted to walk today.
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We had been advised to go to the right of the pier as the tourists (there were 150 on ferry) would go to the left.  Right we went and we didn't see anyone else for the first half hour.  Then during the next half hour we saw 2 couples.  Good advice!

Looks like we have found more of the limestone pavements (as the Irish call it) which is called limestone shelves in yesterday's post.
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Massive display of rocks.
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More of this different style of fencing. Chuck wanted to take the class being offered on how to stack dry stones and make a wall. Let me tell you this island is COVERED in dry stone walls!
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This is the seal colony . . . well that's what the map said. We didn't see a single seal. Do they migrate?
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rod dayWe had the same situation on Inishmoe. A fiendish plot to attract tourists?
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6 months ago
Silhouette of an ass.
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The memorial stone (per the map). The inscription was in Gaelic, but the picture indicates those lost at sea.
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We heard waves crashing and scrambled over the rocks to see them. They were small, but the sound was big.
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Walking down the road between rock walls.
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St. Enda's Holy Well.
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Field of dreams (flowers).
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Chuck was working on a masterpiece photo.
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Our route was a loop and we were headed back towards the village and we were beginning to see more people.  But again, it wasn't crowded and we didn't feel like too many tourists were milling about with us.

We came across the 11th century church. To us it looked more like a chapel rather than a church. It was very small.
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The 11th century church.
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The alter of the current village church.
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We had about an hour or so left to explore, so we headed up to the castle and signal tower.  It was a bit of a climb up to the highest point on the island, but the views were very nice.

That's the pier way down there with ferries docked. Ferries come from Doolin and Galway bringing hordes of tourists to boost the island economy.
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View from the castle showing the dry rock walls.
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Looking up to the signal tower from the castle. We walked up to it, but it was closed.
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Interior of the first floor of the castle.
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Once upon a time this was a foreboding structure above the village.
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Another view showing all of the dry rock walls.
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rod dayThis is what we saw on Inishmor. Many fields with well kept stone walls but no animals. Strange.
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6 months ago
Looking down on the village of Inisheer.
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Their fishing boats. In days gone by they were made from leather hides and tar. Today they looked like they were made of fiberglass with the tar.
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I'm still dazzled by the colors of the water.
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Part Two of our adventure began with taking the ferry back to Doolin.  Our route took us to the Cliffs of Moher and gave us a guided tour of the cliffs.  Just a couple of days ago we were on top looking down and now we are at the base looking up.  They are pretty magnificent.  The tour operator said it was the second biggest tourist attraction in Ireland with over 1.5 million visitors per year.  The biggest tourist attraction?  The Guinness Storehouse in Dublin.

The cliffs are coming into sight.
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Two perfect triangles.
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An arch.
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The dark cave was used in the second to last Harry Potter movie.
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Standing rock.
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rod dayA better way to see them. No tourists!
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6 months ago
The flecks of light on the ocean aren't fairies dancing, they are water birds.
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rod dayFairies dont like the sea because the waves make their wings wet!
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6 months ago

This ferry ride was a lot of fun and we're glad we added it to our day.  However, once back on the big island we moved on to Part Three of our Rest Day.  On our walk from the pier back into Doolin, we passed the Pitch & Putt Golf Course.  We stopped in and rented the clubs and played 18 holes.  It was a hoot!!!

Chuck teeing off.
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From one of the holes we could see the Doolin Cliffs.
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Looking down onto the course.
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It was a good shot.
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Chuck is teeing off with the Cliffs of Moher in the background.
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View of the rolling pitch & putt course.
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We added a 3.5 kilometer walk to our day off the bike to have dinner at a recommended local pub .  After a day of 27,000 steps, we returned to our B&B to settle in for the night.  Tomorrow is a long ride and if Ride with GPS is right there's a short STEEP climb.

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