Kells Bay: Day 2

A big day out - first stop two incredible ringforts.


Then on to a site that I had thrown very loosely into the itinerary depending on weather and handy boatmen - Illaunloughan, a tiny island in the middle of the Portmagee channel. We inquired at Portmagee post office about handy boartmen - what a helpful man, who immediately made phone calls and told us to hang around for a bit. We did. G rang back but was unable to take us but if we could wait 20 minutes D would meet us and take us over. We assembled at the pier and D duly rocked up  - in his boat - this was it. 'Elf and safety would have had a field day! We clambered aboard and off we bobbed to the tiny island, the waves quite brisk as the wind was getting up! D got as close as he could and advised us to aim for a rock - there was no pier. We did so clinging onto thrift and other vegetation and startling the resident bird life. D then went off to float around until summoned for the return journey while we had an exploration.
What an incredible place, a tiny grassy rocky patch jam-packed with interesting stuff for it had had also been an ecclesiastical settlement, the home of 13 monks according to D. This was one of the amazing features we had come to explore a- gable shrine surrounded by quartz, probably the shrine of the founder.  There was of course a well and the building behind was a hermitage apparently.
The tiny island is now getting continually eroded by the sea but D said his father, now 80, could remember it being big enough for a game of football - hard to imagine how that happened as every inch was covered in ankle-breaking little gravestones.
We didn't linger too long as it was pretty windy and we waved to D to come and fetch us from our rock - again, clambering in one at a time. The journey back was quite bumpy as the winds were getting seriously large but what a fantastic adventure - if you're brave enough to ask who knows where you might end up! 
We then carried on to Valentia Island (you can see the bridge in the background) In search of St Darerca’s well. This too was an adventure and we met up with the charming S who sent us up onto the mountain where we were accosted (again) by sheep hopeful for some food. The well had been restored for the millennium but was now rarely visited but it was an attractive one.


Back at the house, we dined on more Thai food (yellow curry for me) then Himself and I wandered down to the  Bay - a beautiful little sandy strand - and watched the gannets dive bombing into the water.
Another early night was taken, windswept beyond belief!