Exploring Ireland by public transport
Inishmore, Aran Islands, was one of the standouts of Colette's trip.
Staycations have a lot going for them. You might think they’re the poor relation of foreign holidays, a reminder of childhood days when families were packed into cars for a fortnight near the sea. Back in the day, before we had discovered garlic, the idea of flying off to the sun was the stuff of fantasy. That was because air fares were very expensive and would have been utterly prohibitive for your average family. Instead, people rocked up to their mobile homes parked near an Irish beach or rented a holiday home in the west of Ireland for a week or two. It was a great way to see the country. Going to a different location every year was exciting (although not as thrilling for a child as the idea of going to some flash Costa del Sol resort!)
These days, we should all be going on staycations as flying takes such a toll on the environment. If you truly want to cut down on your carbon footprint, take an Irish holiday. And if you can manage it, using public transport is the ultimate in responsible travelling. Yes, buses and trains can sometimes run late but they’re a wonderful way to see our country. There’s nothing like relaxing on a train and gazing out the window, seeing animals grazing in fields, sometimes under a blue sky.
These days, many of us go on busy city breaks abroad involving traipsing around the sights of Paris, Berlin, Madrid or wherever else in a heavily scheduled few days. We exhaust ourselves getting around on foot in order to get a sense of the city we’re in. There are iconic sights to see and photos to be taken. Laughably, we often report back by sending pictures of the exotic meal we’re about to eat or the art work we’ve seen to the folks back home. Relaxing? You must be joking. You would need a proper holiday after such a level of activity.
If I was asked to pick my favourite holiday, I can honestly say that it wasn’t visiting Venice or New York (both up there as fantastic experiences) but rather, a week on Inishmore, the main Aran Island, spent with someone I’ve been friends with since school days. It was the middle of summer some years ago. My friend, on a break from her home in London, spent a few days in Dublin and I travelled (by coach) to meet her there. We were footloose and fancy-free and decided to get out of the city and to head west.
There is something about the notion of ‘heading west’ that conjures up liberation and adventure. The poet WB Yeats told fellow writer, JM Synge to give up Paris and go to the Aran Islands in order to “express a life that has never found expression.” Synge first went west in 1898 which inspired his writing including his famous play, ‘The Playboy of the Western World’ set in a pub in the west of Ireland in the early 1900s.
We weren’t in search of the muse when we boarded the train from Heuston Station to Galway. Rather, we were hoping that the good weather would continue on the small island off the west coast. We hit gold. As soon as we got on the ferry from Galway (you can also take the ferry from Rossaveel in Connemara or Doolin in County Clare), we were in holiday mode under a blazing sun. Inishmore, the largest of the three Aran Islands, was quite magical.
We hired bicycles and cycled around the island, stopping off at little coves to lie in the sun, eat fruit and drink water. We felt we could have been on a Greek island with the turquoise sea and the light-coloured sand. We speculated on the reasons for vertical tombs dotted around the island and were smitten with the numerous rabbits hopping around. We even came across a wedding taking place on a hill with a bodhrán being played, enticing the guests to climb upwards and get close to the celebration. We inadvertently crashed the nuptials!
We stayed in a B&B which was reasonably priced. There are plenty of places to eat on the island such as Teach na Phaidi, The Bar and Joe Watty’s Bar. We dined in a different place most nights, enjoying seafood and indulging in desserts, feeling we could justify them after all the cycling. We even went swimming — a rare activity for me given the cold Irish sea.
Going west from Cork city is something I do regularly during the summer months. I’m lucky to have a relative (whom I’ll call Dave to spare his blushes) who keeps an open house in West Cork.
Not being a driver, I take the bus (Bus Eireann) from Cork to Skibbereen. (You can use cash to buy a ticket if you wish.) It’s a lovely journey, meandering through sleepy Innishannon and bustling Bandon. I always feel uplifted when we hit Rosscarberry, knowing that it won’t be too long before I disembark. I generally have an hour or two to spend in Skibbereen before Dave logs off from work and can collect me to go to his rather remote house. That time is spent viewing exhibitions at Uillinn (the West Cork Arts Centre) and having coffee and cake in the centre’s cafe.
The most memorable sojourn in West Cork was when Dave invited a friend and I to a very special occasion. It was a private concert given by balladeer John Spillane in Dave’s borderless garden, on a hot summer’s day a couple of years ago. Dave had made a contribution to the production of a John Spillane album and availed of one of the rewards — a performance of songs about cherry blossom trees, Magic Nights in the Lobby and childhood days in Cork, among other delights. It was magical. Dave welcomed a big crowd to the party and set up food and drinks on trestle tables. It was a great start to a blissful few days, when the sun shone — as it is meant to when one goes west.
Being dependent on public transport has its drawbacks, of course, such as a reliance on lifts to get from destination towns out to the countryside or the sea. It’s no longer acceptable to hitch lifts. I’m astonished thinking back to my student days when it was the norm to stick one’s thumb out on the side of a road, begging, in effect, for a drive to wherever you were pitching up!
But on the plus side, public transport is kinder to the planet. Planes emit on average 4.84 times more greenhouse emissions than trains. Flying on a short flight or driving alone are the most carbon-intensive methods of travel.
If you have small children or a lot of luggage, using public transport can have added complications. But for someone like me, carless and with only my four bones to transport, it’s a no-brainer and a most enjoyable way to get around — especially of you always travel with ear buds so that you can listen to a podcast or the radio on your phone. Happy travels!
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