Inishbofin

Today was a day of surrender. Surrendering ourselves to the charm and magic of Inishbofin on a quite beautiful, mostly warm and sunny day. All day long we've enjoyed the dramatic backdrop of the mountains of Connemara. It's been quite perfect.

I went for a run before breakfast to reprise yesterday's walk in the bright morning light and realised just how much we had already seen. Today's exploration took us to the East side of the island and we covered even more ground, investigating every nook and cranny of the coast. There was no rushing. We stopped to beachcomb and sunbathe and swim, completely undisturbed. We had each of three beautiful beaches all to ourselves. If you want to follow in our footsteps and come visit this little rocky paradise there can be no better time of the year to come.

I had brought the bike over on the ferry so in order to justify that effort I finished the day riding the one road loop that it is possible to do here, to East End Village, out on the high road and back on the low road. We're leaving on the first ferry in the morning and I'm going to feel very sad to depart. I'm determined to return before too long. Perhaps like no other of the islands of Ireland I've so far explored, this very special place truly calls to me. One of the things I really love is that it is so easy to engage with people. We've only been here two days but we keep bumping into people we know. Everyone is so wonderfully friendly.