Whiddy National School

Just back from a most enjoyable day. We'd heard that there was a walking tour around Whiddy Island so decided to go for it. We picked up TJ and met friends on the quay. What a glorious day! Wall to wall sunshine, warmth and an excellent walk. Whiddy Island is a very strange place, just a mile or so out in Bantry Bay but another world completely. Once home to 800 people it now has just 21 residents. It feels a bit melancholy, a bit empty, a bit worn by all its history. We had Tim as our guide- born and bred on the island and now the ferryman/publican. It was a lengthy and bracing walk and we took in:
a steep greenway bordered by old walls with trees growing out of them
very new, very loud little white lambs
an ancient church and graveyard in what looked like an old ringfort, filled with daffodils
the old national school, pretty but crumbling
the site of an American seaplane base used during the 2WW (6 seaplanes and a hive of Americans complete with dancehall, shops and barracks), all that remain are the the concrete floors of enormous hangars
the single stack of an O Sullivan castle
an ankle wrecking rocky beach
the enticing and colossal remains of a Napoleonic battery (we could only gaze wistfully upon the hill for it is the property of a Belgian and unsafe)
The views were sublime and I now have pink cheeks. Cups of tea and handfuls of TJ's chips and we were restored.

The blip shows the National School, opened in 1887, closed in 1947, re-opened briefly in the late 1950s/60s. During its heyday, 60 children were crammed in here with two teachers. Tim, our guide, went here and had 23 companions. Inside the blue painted,name scratched wooden desks remain. Tim showed us where he sat. Today there are only two children left on the island, teenagers in their final year of schooling and they have to catch the ferry everyday to go to Bantry.
A few more pics here if you're interested. I took most of these a year and a half ago and the school has disintegrated badly since then.