Carraig Aonair...

... or the Fastnet Rock,a wild and treacherous spot a good 12 miles out to sea with a lighthouse, now automatic. Referred to in weather forecasts and also known as Ireland's Teardrop as it was the last part of Ireland immigrants saw as they sailed away to America. Today it was looking mysterious and shimmery, and we were very high up.
The weather being absolutely stunning, we decided to do a big walk and tackle Knockaphuca, one of the Fastnet Trails, appropriately enough. It is a pretty steep and boggy climb upwards but the summit topped with a trigpoint and a large cross, erected in the Holy Year of 1950 and now illuminated thanks to solar panels, has the most amazing 360 views,  sublime if slightly hazing today. We ate our cheese sandwiches under the cross and enjoyed the absolute solitude, blissful silence and no need for a face mask. 
Enjoy a few more photos and stories as my friend Robert recounts their experience of the mountain in Roaringwater Journal. I'm glad to say we didn't meet the púca, a shape shifting creature which  often appears as a black stallion with glowing red eyes!
Back in Goleen, ice creams were taken.