Inis Mor (Aran Islands)

Today we had a relatively early start, catching the ferry across to Inis Mor (the largest of the Aran Isles).  We decided to make an easy day of it so hired a horse and cart to take us for a ‘tourist’ ride around.  The Island is approximately 9 miles long and we travelled about 6 miles along it.  A beautiful and rugged island that it would be great to spend more time on. 

The main income here comes from small farming (cows) and tourism.  I was fascintated to learn, given that the Aran Isles are the home of Aran knitting, that there are no sheep on the island.  All the wool that they use comes over from the mainland.  I didn’t learn whether that was originally the case, but it did seem weird to me that the wool wasn’t home grown.
The island is covered in dry stone walls, approximately 3,000 miles of them which is amazing when you consider that the island is only about 12 square miles in size.  Seriously some of those ‘paddocks’ are barely large enough to hold a cow and calf!  The walls are deliberately built with ‘holes’ in them for the wind to pass through – which is what keeps them standing, whereas if they were solid the wind would eventually force them over.


Dinner at an excellent Asian fusion  restaurant (thanks Tripadvisor) back on the mainland then falling into bed exhausted!

The extra shows some of those miles of rock walls.