Inis Mor!!

Made it to the Aran Island of Inis Mor! After what felt like a harrowing boat journey, (though according to a local who does the commute daily, this was normal and moderate. Indeed, he spent the trip writing, while I focused on the waves and minimizing motion sickness). In any case, no life jackets were needed - hooray! The ocean is so powerful and impressive and as much as I love water, the thought of being stranded in the middle of the ocean is always one that has terrified me. Calm water is beautiful, a little choppy is fun but large swells that rock the boat to nearly laying on its side make me anxious. The trip started out calmly enough that I took my bags to the top deck to enjoy the fact that it wasn't raining, but about 15 minutes in, they asked me and the other lady catching fresh air and sea sprays to go back downstairs and inside. That's when the fun stopped and anxiety set in. I just kept staring at the water, imagining our boat capsizing and being stranded in this angry mess of huge dark waves. More excitement than I was expecting from the boat journey! The day started up by Mt Errigal when I left the hostel at 7:30 am to try to get to Slieve League around 9:30 am. Success! Though also set a precendent that 100km of travel would continuously take me 2 hours. Lots of road construction and even sheep on the roads! Grand total today was 422 km with multiple stops, though my favorite was Slieve League. One of the tallest sea cliffs in Europe with the mountains jutting out of the water to 601 meters. Amazing!!! The drive down was a painfully long time to be sitting in a car but compensated by the fact that the scenery was absolutely stunning!!! Along the coast, through valleys with rolling green hills framed by fantastic mountains. One of my favorite areas was Leenane. Phenomenal. Equally so was Glengesh Pass.... I just keep finding more places that I have to come back to on other trips for more thorough explorations!! The best inanimate companions I have for this trip are two cds I bought in Dublin from a guy busking on Grafton Street. It's all instrumental with him playing violin to a recorded guitar and drum background. It is absolutely awesome and makes SUCH great music for the scenery I get to drive through. So perfect! Most notable and NOT perfect part of the day....after raving about the GPS system I've been using and developing a relationship with these past few days, it broke my trust today!!! :) I decided to trust it as it lead me up this remote road, but after 8 km it told me to turn off road at part of the road where there was absolutely no other option. WHAT??!! I ended up turning around as soon as I could, driving the 8 km back down to ask someone, only to find out it was actually the right path and I should have just continued on another 20 km. All righty then!!! But I made it in time for the ferry, woohoo, and now it's time for bed!