Before we visited Ireland we had visions of narrow, twisty, rock-fence lined roads along which farmers shepherded their sheep. It was all true except for the sheep: perhaps all the sheep farming is done in the north of Ireland, as we saw mostly cows in the south. It’s as if someone shook the whole island country of Ireland and the heavier cows settled to the bottom and the sheep (we guess) floated to the top. At least the dairy farmers weren’t shepherding their cows (cowherding?) on those twisty country roads.
One of the most Irish of our experiences in Ireland was the day we visited Holyhead Island. It’s a tiny little island in Lough Derg (“Lock Derg”, just like lochs in Scotland), the long, glacial lake that forms much of the border between counties Clare and Tipperary. You show up at the harbor at the town of Mountshannon and pay a guy 12 Euros each to pile into his little boat for the ride out to the island. The sign on the side of his van touts it as a “tour”, but it’s really just a trip to the island: he deposited us at a pier and asked us when we wanted him to come back to get us. We asked how long most people took. He said an hour. We asked for 90 minutes since we actually like to see things more than most people do.
Despite how small Holyhead Island is, we took every bit of our 90 minute “tour” to see it. There are two sets of church ruins, a fine cemetery with the best Celtic crosses in Ireland, rolling hills with great views of the surrounding lake, and cows wandering the island (often with no fence between you and them). It’s a lush, green place with a taste of all that you’d expect in Ireland.
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| The Best Celtic Cross in Ireland |
