Galway City to Inishbofin Island (06 June).
We reluctantly left Galway just after midday on Sunday. This weekend was an Irish Bank holiday and there was a lot on in the town, not to mention the second of 3 days of the “Around Ireland power boat racing”, but we arrived in Galway on the previous Tuesday and just had to move on. It’s so difficult to leave some places, and yes once gain we stayed longer than planned when we arrived.
We headed out in to Galway Bay with no exact destination in mind other than to progress our way to Inishbofin. We wanted to head west, and yes, where was the wind coming from? The west! So we tacked in a south westerly direction over to Ballyvaghan Bay and back again to a little harbour called Spiddle. We had a look in the harbour but it was busy with a gig race and the wall was thronged with people watching, so we decided to motor into the wind and push on to Rossaveal where we picked up a mooring for the night. Just as well because the next day the wind was coming from the east and it would have been blowing straight in to Spiddle. However, it was just right for us to continue our journey west around Skerd rocks of which there are too many to count, and then north past Slyne Head to Inishbofin.
I’m writing this on the Wednesday and we’re still in Inishbofin because the winds are too strong for us to continue. They’re also coming from the north east and our next port of call is Clare Island who’s harbour and moorings are on the east side of the island and therefore exposed to the current winds. Inishbofin is a lovely little island but there’s not much here, a couple of pubs and hotels, a B&B, a small shop and a community centre.