Walking Up Skellig Michael
We were met by a guide at the foot of Skellig Michael. He gave us an overview of what to expect here on the island. It was basically stuff we already knew about, how special the island is but one thing that I didn’t know what that it is a puffin sanctuary, more on that later. The island was the site of a monastic settlement by people who wanted to get away from it all. It probably worked. I can’t see why people would come here in the first place. We were told to respect the island. It can be dangerous here since there are not handrails. One wrong step and it can send you plunging to your death.
Watch Your Step at Skellig Michael
We were sent on our way to explore the island. There isn’t really much choice here since there seemed to be only one path going up. There were already steps made to climb the mountain. What can be seen here is how rocky this place is. It seems to be a large piece of rock which was uplifted from the sea. You can clearly see the layers of rock here. Incidentally, it makes for perfect stepping stones. The rocks were laid along the path to make it easier to climb. I don’t think the steps were originally used by the monks here. It seemed to be too nice. Whichever path the monks took might have been overlaid by the steps. I haven’t climbed a mountain in a while, and I was already feeling tired from climbing up the stairs. It isn’t really that tall but if you look around, it gives you the impression that you are so high up.
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