Aleria's Adventures

To visit the Skelligs, we had to travel to County Kerry, known as The Kingdom. Ciarraige in Irish translates as Ciar's Kingdom, which has been its name since the 6th century. It's a 5-hour drive and we had to stay overnight as the boats leave from Portmagee early in the morning.  We departed from Mayo mid-morning. We made our usual potty stop in Tuam. We bought sandwiches there to have en route for lunch. We decided to stop and stretch our legs in the pretty village of Adare. The last time we stopped there was about 10 years ago. We took our lunch along to the park and sat watching people and pigeons while munching our way through delicious sandwiches. We haven't people watched in public in several years. We then decided to break up the trip a little more by walking around the town. There were quite a few people around and we even saw a wedding, which has been a rare occurrence through the pandemic years. It was interesting to note that Adare looked very different than we b...

The Skellig rocks The Skelligs (Na Scealga) are two rocks off the west coast of Ireland. One of the rocks is inaccessible. The other has a landing site that is untenable in some states of weather and sea. The allure of these rocks is twofold: 1) They are home to an exceptional number of seabirds, especially gannets and puffins and 2) they have exceptionally well-preserved early Christian remains.  Skellig Michael has a rather impressive monastic settlement, including beehive huts where the monks lived, a beehive church, a large beehive communal kitchen, a high carved cross and a burial area. Most astonishingly, the monastery is at the top of the rock. To get to it, you must climb 618 steps with precipices on either side. The steps are uneven in height and width, so it is not straightforward.  Alex and I have been trying to visit Skellig Michael since we moved to Ireland and we have sailed around it on our own boat. But there are only a limited number of boats licensed to land...