Dursey Island

Dursey Island is about 5 miles long and 1 mile wide, off the far western coast of the Beara Peninsula. It's separated from the mainland by a channel several hundred yards wide beneath hundred foot cliffs. It's not exactly the kind of place you would expect to find a cable car, but there is one. The cable car has been there since the fifties, and it carries up to 6 people (or some larger number of sheep) between the island and the

mainland. The six person capacity is  enough to transport the entire human population of the island at one time, should that be necessary. Transporting the entire population of sheep would take a lot of trips. Up until recently, people and sheep could share the cable car. But the Irish version of OSHA (or PETA) determined that, for safety reasons, people and sheep have to ride the cable car separately. It's probably safer for the sheep that way.

In spite of (or perhaps because of) its isolation, Dursey Island has had a bit of grisly history. The Vikings used the island to hold Irish slaves, until there were enough to send a shipload back home.

Several hundred years ago, the Beara peninsula was the center of the O'Sullivan clans. Today, every village seems to have an O'Sullivan pub, store, and bakery. In 1604 the English army, determined to wipe out the last of the O'Sullivan chieftans and his clan, pursued the clan down the Beara peninsula and onto Dursey, and massacred hundreds of  O'Sullivans there. Legend is that the English tied all the women and children together and threw them off a cliff into the ocean. A couple of days ago when we mentioned to B&B owner Margaret O'Sullivan that we were planning to visit Dursey, she only said “some bad times happened there” and her face darkened. The history between Ireland and England is long and complicated.

A loop of the Beara Way crosses the Dursey cable car and loops around the island. From the cable car, the Way follows the old road around the south side of the island and through the three “villages.” Each of the three villages consists of 1-2 houses that look like they might be occupied, and the ruins of several other buildings that obviously aren't. Then the trail climbs to the central mountain ridge and follows the ridge back.

The views the whole way are really incredible. The coastline falls away in the distance to the south and north, a few small rocky islands out in the ocean, and the Atlantic disappearing to the horizon to the west. Next stop that way

is North America.

During migrating periods, Dursey is a stop for many migrating birds. Supposedly many North American birds show up on Dursey after losing their way and flying across the Atlantic.

Dursey is a relatively popular place for Irish and tourists to visit, because of the great hike and incredible views. But in spite of the fact that we were sharing the island with 10-15 other people that day, Dursey feels immensely isolated. I can't recall anyplace where the feeling of being right at the end of the world is so powerful.