Aleria's Adventures

Off the coast of Mayo lies a very special island, Inishturk. It has little tourism and is thus reflective of real life on the islands.  But the real allure of Inishturk is its spectacular walking trails.  There is a lovely loop walk through the middle with a side shoot to the end of the island.  Across commonage, past a lake, deep gorges and precipices, past a striking memorial to past residents and names of clans, a Napoleonic Martello tower, a kitchen midden, a GAA pitch, and just striking views in all directions. Benches along the way let visitors relax and contemplate the scenery or the marvel of life itself.  At only 5 km by 2.5 km, it is easily walkable in its entirety. It is a stunning island, but the best part is the welcoming inhabitants. There are three children in the school at the moment.  We decided that Aleria would stop there on our lay day after Clare Island. We had not been in several years. As it happened, all the other boats decided to join u...

Sailing past Clare Island and into Clew Bay The last leg of our journey would take us the remaining 35 NM or so to our home inlet in Clew Bay. The question was, since we may not be coming back to Bofin for a while, should we spend an extra day and walk the island. It's been a few years and it is so beautiful. (By the way, there is now mobile and 4G signal in the harbour. No need to climb the hill any more!) But in short order, we consulted with WingGuru and noted 15 knots SW on this day and 15 knots NW the next. Better to go with the flow. Our mooring wasn't ready as our BIL wasn't able to raise the riser, but he said the mooring nearby was suitable. We knew there wasn't enough water, but Alex thought he could raise the chain with Aleria 's windlass. High tide was at about 1430, and we needed at least half tide to get over the shellfish bed on approach to our inlet. But the wind proved fickle and we had no interest in motoring as the day was just too perfect....