Going to the Aran Islands wasn’t something I’d thought about for years. When looking at tour options in Galway, I vaguely recalled people saying I should go there. When I booked the tour, the girl asked if I wanted to take the tour bus or rent a bike? At the moment my legs were still recovering from my bike ride on the Dingle Peninsula. My muscles felt like shredded beef. My seat was sore. I couldn’t even contemplate getting on a bike again. In fact, I was pretty sure that I had sworn I would never ride a bike again as I tensely clutched the breaks sliding down the soaking wet hill. I hesitated with questions and longing all over my face. The bus? But the bike ride is SO NICE! She said. I took a day. After a second day’s rest riding through Connemara, my muscles felt much better. I’ll do the bike!
We drove past Galway’s beaches and Emerald Isle beauty to the pier.
We boarded the ferry. 
I watched as this couple hovered around this wedding cake, keeping it in place as the ferry bounced over the waves.
To get off the ferry, we walked through another boat to get to the pier. 
All the signs were in Irish Gaelic
There was a white sandy beach.
I showed my ticket to the guy at the bike place and he told me to pick any bike I wanted. I didn’t know the difference, but I saw right away that the helmets were just for me!
I adjusted the seat to make sure it was high enough, stopped at the tourist information booth to get a map and set off up the hill.
I passed some people walking their bikes up the hill. Dude. I’ve been there. Some who’s seats were way too low. Amateurs. On the third hill my legs began to tire.
After an hour I knew that I’d made a terrible mistake. What was I thinking? My seat hurt immediately, my muscles were screaming again. Didn’t I learn my lesson?! Don’t you remember how much this hurt 2 days ago? I didn’t know how I would make it through the rest of the day. How on earth would I find the places to go? I didn’t know what there was to see! All I had was a map of gibberish words with circles and arrows and I couldn’t remember what anything meant!
How the hell was I supposed to see everything? I should have taken that bus. Then I would have gotten to see everything and they would tell me what it all was.
Also. I was surrounded by incredible beauty.
I decided to make the best of it and arrived at the beach in the middle of the island quicker than I anticipated! I was like, half way or 2/3 of the way to the farthest thing I could reasonably get to (I couldn’t figure out what the TI lady had written). I found my way to the 7 churches. Rick Steves told me a little about it in my guidebook.
I climbed half way down the hill to take a picture, choosing to use my time to see other things rather than climbing all over the grave yard and then having to climb all the way back up the hill.
I climbed back on the bike and rode back to the beach to head down the other fork prong.
This one led to Dun Aonghasa– A must see, according to my buddy Rick.
I left my bike in the bike parking lot. No one had locks. I didn’t even leave anything in exchange for taking the bike. I realized that someone on the Island could probably rent a bike for a day and keep it for a week and no one would be the wiser!
I brushed past the ‘museum’ gave the lady 5 euros and followed the signs.
The road kind of turned to the left. Is that where we were going?
Nope! The thing was really far away! And on top of a hill!
That’s where I was going:
When I needed to catch my breath, I would stop and take a picture.
The rocks in the grass were really interesting
The walls made the climb seem epic. I wondered what it might have been like to make this journey hundreds of years ago.
The views were promising
The last leg
Stepping through the doorway, the edge of the Earth was encircled in stone.
The rocks in the ground were still unusual
No barriers. You could just walk over to the edge of a cliff
To the left
To the right
It was awesome
There were pretty flowers in the rocks 
I read what Rick had to say about the structure and he said that most tour busses drop folks off for 2 hours here- 30 minutes to climb up, 20 minutes to look around, 20 minutes to climb down and 4o minutes for lunch at one of the 2 cafes. All of a sudden I was grateful to be on my own schedule, exploring at my own pace. I could come and go as I liked!
I was about to leave when I looked over and saw steps leading toward a doorway I hadn’t noticed.
Here were the 13 foot wide walls!
The view here was more dramatic
I had to take a step back to get the full picture
This was crazy! It was totally a flat edge over a cliff.
Instead of doing a dramatic pose myself, I just let this lady do it
I’m falling off the cliff!
It was so cool. I took a deep breath and sat deep in the moment. Here it felt like I had travelled far far away. I was on the adventure I had been seeking. Everything around me was beautiful and weird. I was having so much fun.
Coming back through that doorway I could see for ages
The road back down was less intimidating
The rocks in the ground were so strange.
Back in the museum I took a closer look at what I had just visited– the layered 13 foot wide walls
The aerial view from above
And the other way– The structure used to be bigger but the edge of it fell off the cliff and into the ocean.
The next stop was a naturally formed square pool in the ground called the worm hole. Rick Steves implied that it wasn’t a tour bus stop because you could only get there on foot. Sweet. Once again I was glad to be on my own. I followed the signs down a dirt rocky road (that I couldn’t imagine would be passable by car– maybe by wagon) until I found a bunch of bikes parked inside a gate. A group of people were coming back. Is this where the worm hole is? Yep! It’s just over there!
I stashed my bike and started the one mile hike along the path.
I was dazzled by the rocks.
I was overcome with euphoria. Every pile of rocks looked like a sculpture
With no stimulants in my system, I was totally blissed out.
I’m in such a strange place on the other side of the world ALL BY MYSELF!
If this view was a metaphor for my life, I felt guided.
After months, years, of wanting a next thing to make me as happy or happier than I was in Italy and not being sure of where to go, I was starting to feel like I was on a path. 
And it didn’t look anything like I would have guessed.
These rocks looked like people hanging out around a campfire.
I probably could have spent days out here with these rocks
This was my favorite little piece of magic
After about 20 minutes (which is about how long it takes to walk an hour) the path turned into rocks and became unclear. I climbed over the rocks but didn’t see a square pool. Some Australians walked up and they had no clue either. To the left was the monument I was just on. It was so high up we figured we would have seen it from there if it was between us. To the left there was weird beach, but no obvious worm hole.
I started heading back disappointed that I didn’t reach my destination. I figured I either had enough time to keep looking for it– find another group of bikes and walk a mile, or to ride back along the beach. I kept my eye out for another sign pointing toward the worm hole (actually a sign for Poll na bPeist) but didn’t find one. Well I guess this one really would have to be about the journey rather than the destination! To the beach!
Again I just couldn’t get over the landscape.
On either side of me wound stone labyrinths in a sea of green with a sea of blue just beyond
And it wasn’t pouring rain!
I smiled and waved at the people I had been crossing paths with all day. Some of them stopped for a break, some to take pictures, some to figure out how the landmarks compared to their map. 
My legs had resigned to the reality I forced upon them. I did get off and push the bike up the really steep hills, but I wasn’t nearly in as bad a shape as I had been a couple of days ago.
Finally the town reappeared. 
I returned the bike and caught the ferry back. There were no wedding cakes this time.
But I did get some pictures of the beaches I had admired on the way there.
The sand was white and the water turquoise. I thought, I bet these beaches are amazing in the summer! Then I realized we were in the peak of summer. 
Someone asked how my day was. I told them that Inishmore was incredible and amazing in a way I never expected. Oh yeah, they said. That’s what they’d heard.