Great Blasket Island – Photographs, Comments, Stories (Part 1)

This is a view of Great Blasket Island from the mainland.

Last week I spent a couple of nights on Great Blasket Island, which is the largest of a group known as The Blasket Islands, off the coast of the Dingle Peninsula, in County Kerry, South West Ireland. I have previously enjoyed a lot of time on this island, and have taken hundreds of photos and painted several pictures of views form here, but new experiences and images are presented on every visit. The island is uninhabited, except for one or two people who may stay here during the summer sometimes, and occasional campers. There is a village, now in ruins, that was vacated in 1953. It’s an extraordinarily beautiful island.

Having completed the strenuous task of hauling supplies up the very steep hill to the tiny, primitive cottage where I was to stay (the island is basically a mountain rising up from the sea), I fell asleep in a state of exhaustion on a chair facing the open door. Later I awoke, with great surprise, to see this lovely apparition:

A sailing ship unexpectedly dropped anchor right in front of my door

Well actually, it wasn’t an apparition, but a real sailing ship, a French visitor, who had just dropped anchor here to spend the night. See http://www.belespoir.com What better place! No pubs, no night life for the young crew, but they sure did enjoy themselves leaping, into the sea and swimming to and from the shore. Many also came ashore in their dinghy and savoured the many delights and mysteries of the island and its magical beach. I’ll bet it ranks high on their list of favourite overnight stops.

I thought of the previous inhabitants of the island, and how many of them would have sailed to Boston, to settle in Springfield MA in a very similar ship. But they wouldn’t have had the luxury of boarding the ship so close to home. The emigration of young people from this island left its once thriving and vibrant community of writers, storytellers, musicians and fishermen very sparse, until the hardships of managing with inadequate services and fewer young strong people eventually forced the last few to leave in 1953.

The ship dropped its sails to rest for the remainder of the day and night. The small island of Beginish is seen here between Great Blasket and the mainland. The ruins of the village homes remain a poignant reminder of the island’s history.

This photo was taken a little while after Bel Espoir dropped anchor. This is the view from the door of the cottage in which I stayed.

The crew of Bel Espoir enjoyed one of the most beautiful places it could visit. This photo shows the lovely island beach, An Trá Bán.

The warm light of the evening sun falls on Bel Espoir

Au revoir, Bel Espoir.

For more information about the island and to see several photos and paintings please see my website: http://helene-brennan.com/c53-blasket-islands-photographs and http://helene-brennan.com/c62-blasket-islands-paintings

More to follow about the island……..

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Irish Wildflowers – Roadside Wildflowers of the Dingle Peninsula

It’s six years since I first posted this and I have now added some more photos (2019).

“Flaming flowers brightly blaze….” (Don McLean on Vincent Van Gogh).

Indeed the wildflowers of the Dingle Peninsula are brightly blazing at this time of the year, and have not been created by any artist other than nature, admittedly with a little help from the humans who have introduced many non-indiginous species such as the highly invasive montbretia. Nonetheless, I just love the fantastic swathes of colour they create along the roadsides in the rural areas.

The purple loosestrife is a wonderfully colourful flower in Ireland, although I believe it has been a problem in North America, where it is was accidentally introduced and had no natural enemies. The introduction of certain beetles and weevils appear to have successfully controlled it – I hope with no unwanted consequences.

July and August are the best months for these wonderful exhibitions of nature’s art, offering a joyous and thrilling experience for any tourist or local person driving, cycling or walking along the roads. For the driver, the challenge is finding a parking space to leave the car on these narrow roads, in order to get out and walk or take photos of these spectacular and colourful exhibits.

Sadly, there are many people who have either little regard or little awareness of this precious heritage, and often one can see evidence of weedkiller spray along vast areas of roadside at times when the flowers haven’t even had time to bloom and seed. So much must have been lost.

 

 

 

 

 

The thrift or sea pinks below can be seen all over the coastal areas of the peninsula, a lovely sight in early summer. In this photo they were getting a bit past their best.

The photos below were taken in my own wild garden.

The bee was my target in the above shot. I think it’s the Irish wild honey bee, but I have not had this confirmed. I would love someone to tell me if I’m right – or wrong? They absolutely love this flower, which I think is the rape seed flower? I had a burst of them this year.

 

 

I love the meadow sweet, (above and below). It has a really sweet smell, deserving its name.

 

 

 

 

 

MORE OF THESE PHOTOS CAN CAN SEEN ON MY WEBSITE:

http://www.helene-brennan.com/c802-irish-wildflowers-photos