Steep Slopes of Skellig Michael
One look at the landscape at Skellig Michael and one would immediately think – “desolate”. That was what came to my mind when I saw the island. Why would anyone, monks or otherwise choose to live here in such an inhospitable place. It was difficult enough to get here but actually staying here long term is probably a bigger challenge. There are no visible trees here probably because of the powerful winds which constantly whip the island. The only animals which live here would be the puffin, which I think would have been difficult to catch. The monks probably had to bring livestock here for the occasional meat meal.
Anyone Can Be a Daredevil if They Had Wings
So how do you inhabit such an inhospitable land? First thing to do is to explore and find some flat land. Based on what I have seen so far, there hasn’t been a lot of flat land here. What they do have here are steps. The steps seem to go all the way to the top of the mountain. It wasn’t really that high but anything above sea level is high. Along the way, we saw a lot of puffin. Apparently Skellig Michael is the second largest colony of puffin in the world. Maybe the monks were on to something. The goal of this climb is Christ’s Saddle. A saddle shaped formation on the way to the top of the island.
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