At this moment, exploring the Irish landscape seems like the most compelling of endeavours. Sitting on a sun-kissed ferry carving silver spraylets from a fretful ocean, I listen as the boatmen converse in fluent, effortless Gaeilge. For some unexplainable reason, this makes me feel soothingly reassured as we enter postcard-pretty Kilronan Harbour on Inis Mór.
Most of the ferry arrivals immediately enlist jarveys or minibuses for an island tour but I begin footing it, for my intent is to explore Inis Mór’s heartland by traversing Lúb Cill Mhuirbhigh. Purple arrows point me uphill and then right at Joe Wattys bar to gain the island’s less frequented, Lower Road. Here, unforgettable vistas to the mainland provide a heartening feeling of being securely at home, while still liberatingly uncoupled from the Irish mainland.
A junction, signposted Teampall Chiaráin, gives the opportunity for a pleasant diversion to the ruined church where St Ciarán – of Clonmacnoise fame – founded a monastery in the 6th century. Next, wandering boreens combine with grassy roads to gain the island's busy main junction. Great waves of bikes, buses and jarveys sweep past in the direction of Dún Aonghasa, a clifftop fort that has become Inis Mór's honeypot destination. The tidal nature of ferry tourism ensures that "the Dún" teems with visitors around lunchtime, so I decide to pass and opt for solitude on the stony road left.
Directed on to a green lane, I reach a T-junction where a detour offers an excursion to Poll na bPeist. This natural wonder I know by repute as the location for the Red Bull diving competition and since I have never been, the opportunity seems too good to miss.
Idiosyncratically placed arrows, alternating with stone-built cairns, direct me across small fields and limestone pavements to the clifftop overlooking what, in English translation, means “worm hole” or perhaps “monster hole”. Akin more to a perfectly symmetrical swimming pool than a hole, the place is fed with seawater through underground caves. Truly, a breath-taking place of stone, it is an example of nature at its most visceral; yet the reason for its curiously perplexing appellation has been lost to the mists of time.
Oscar-winning
Returning to the Lúb, it is on through the little village of Gort na gCapall to a monument commemorating, Aran-born writer, Liam O'Flaherty, who earned acclaim for his novel The Informer, which became the screenplay for an Oscar-winning movie. Onwards and upwards now by the lonesome road to the apex of the island where an inspiring prospect over the timeless, treeless spine of Inis Mór is framed by a darkening ocean where melancholic clouds are coalescing.
After segueing briefly to an unsurfaced path, the Lúb then commences its long sweeping descent towards the celebrated strand at Poll Mór, where arrows point reassuringly to nearby Kilronan. I pause, however, and in the evening stillness make my way onto the wet sand. Here, with rain spitting and the wind getting up, I stand alone and gaze transfixed towards the wild Atlantic seaboard. Then, a thought strikes: I wouldn’t swop this moment of quietude for the sunniest, most happening, beach on the costas.
Getting there: Year-round crossings to Inis Mór from Rossaveal in Connemara, while seasonal connections operate from Doolin, Co Clare.
Suitability: Relatively easy outing, traversing minor roads, green tracks and stony laneways. The diversion to Poll na bPeist is more challenging and requires sturdy footwear.
Time. 4½ hours. Add 90 minutes if visiting Poll na bPeist.
Map. OSi, Oileáin Árann; 1:25,000.
