08/08/2024

​Gola Island part 2: Now that we’ve had our swim, it’s time to ramble around the island. I described it in our first post as the ‘otherworld’ ~ which is what we call the home of the Gods and Godesses in pre-Christian Ireland. According to the mythology, it’s a happy place, where time stands still and everything is beautiful. For the visitor, I think this is as close as you’ll get to the otherworld. The island itself is lush and verdant, its winding roads punctuated by masses of giant daisies, heathers, copper tips and fuschia. There are twenty or so houses, some crumbling remains of the past, some beautifully restored, preserving the traditional features of the island homes. The pebbled inlets, sheer cliffs, sea arches and solid slabs of rock provide a full drum kit for the sea’s wild performance~ slamming, smacking, sucking, whooshing, licking, kissing the stones depending on the weather. The gulls swoop and skaw, the sheep stare, and there is not an inch that is dry- every footstep is a squelch, on high ground or low.
There are reminders too of the hard life the islanders endured, and how illogical and unfair it was to treat the keepers of Irish, of custom and tradition, music and folklore with such disrespect in the past. Instead of island life being supported, our island communities were more or less driven onto the mainland, schools closed, livelihoods compromised. It’s an unfinished business, but hopefully people will come to realize that these islands are a rich and valuable cultural asset, as are the islanders themselves. So if you do go, buy local, stay local, use your cúpla focail, leave it as you find it, clean and beautiful. Gola, Inisboffin, Tory and Arranmore islands all have a ferry service, there are several opportunities to paddle, SUP, kayak, fish and climb on the islands, historians and creatives, it’s a bountiful source of information and inspiration, artists, photographers, the light, the sky!
Tomorrow we are back on dry(er) land, Slán go fóill Gabhla, Meallfaidh tú ar ais mé.