Unforgettable days on Aran Islands

AS we cycled the small roads and tracks of the Aran Islands on the weekend before last, we enjoyed the best weather of the year.

We could not have been in a more perfect place to enjoy it, 15 miles out in the Atlantic, in a country of limestone pavements and small fields crowded with wildflowers.

The sun shone from morning to night, and the fresh wind that blew, now in our faces, now at our backs, carried the tang of the sea. The temperature was 24ºC and on the almost treeless terrain there was little shade. Despite the sun block and the headgear, my ear tips suffered a toasting and, by the time we headed back to the mainland, we were as tanned as if we’d spent the days on a sun-bed. I am still under the spell of the islands, the unworldliness of their landscapes and their awesome beauty. In a lifetime of travel, I have spent few such unforgettable days.