Leaving The World Behind

The settled September weather broke here last night. The rain had cleared through by the morning allowing me to enjoy a cycle over from our B&B to meet TJ at Cleggan where we caught the ferry across to Inishbofin. The crossing was dramatic, with a genuine sense of leaving the world behind. It is a different world here, as is so often the case with these offshore islands in Ireland. It's a special kind of person that lives here, and also a special kind of person that comes visiting. Connemara feels like frontier territory, and these islands are the very remotest outposts.

Just as we embarked on the island the weather closed in again and we started walking in drizzle, the locals delighting in telling us that this was the first precipitation they'd seen in a month! It also felt a good ten degrees colder than it had on the mainland. But it wasn't long before this band of rain passed over, giving way to a brighter afternoon and a chance to properly experience the elemental beauty of the island. It's a bimbler's paradise here with open access to the entire coast, which seems to continuously change in character with every twist and turn of a tortuously complicated topography.

This is a place to unwind from the modern world - which makes it very hard to understand a bizarre situation we came across today. We called in at the Community Center to hopefully pick up a walking guide to the island. On display were three guide maps, each illustrating one of the developed circular walks here. But we were told that they were not for sale any more. They'd been discontinued. They were only available as an app for mobile phones! What really makes this ridiculous is that mobile reception on the island is very patchy! It's hard to get a signal anywhere!! Who makes these decisions?

Thanks for all the lovely comments from the last few days. We feel cherished and have been deeply touched by that. I hope you'll forgive us for not spending much time on-line. It feels good, though, to touch base and read your words and keep friends and family up to date with our adventures by posting daily.