I recently read the autobiography “The Islandman” by Tomás Ó Criomhthains (Thomas O’Crohan). Ó Criomhthains tells about life on the remote islands off the coast of the Dingle Peninsula, the sometimes difficult conditions, but also that at times life was much easier on the islands than on the “mainland”.
Last Saturday I had the opportunity to visit An Bhlascaod Mhór, the Great Blasket Island. Nowadays only few houses on the island are intact and I found it hard to imagine how life was at Ó Criomhthains times. Especially as I visited the island in a picture-perfect weather – it was simply idyllic. Only the crossing showed how challenging it must have been to cross the Blasket Sound without motorized boat due to rough seas.
