Tale of two isles
July 8, 2023, 10:06 am , by Richard Lutz
There are The Aran Islands and then there’s the Isle of Arran. Richard Lutz didn’t get confused when he visited both
For decades, I’ve wanted to head for The Aran Islands, a trio of stark chunks of earth and rock about 20 miles off the Galway coast in Ireland. They’re known for their remoteness, their heavy knit sweaters (aka jumpers), their ancient sites and old twisty lanes bordered by an eternity of white limestone wrestled from the infertile ground.
The farming, the fishing and the knitting all kept the islands, especially the main island of Inishmore (or Big Island), just about ticking over. It had a dreamy mystique to it. WB Yeats told JM Synge: ‘Go to the Aran Islands and find a life that has not yet been expressed in literature.’
Synge did. He wrote about them in plays and stories. Then film maker Robert Flanerty portrayed the isles in the semi fictional documentary Men of Aran and, recently, the movie ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ was partially shot there.
But the ultra rural life, the crofting, fishing and the busy little knitting industry have seemingly gone. The main island is a now a day trippers’ delight, little more than a Disneyland of Irishness, the ferry disgorging armies of backpackers (yes, including me) several times a day and the farmers and fishing folk now running merch shops, driving a taxi or tourist mini vans or guiding the old fashioned horse and buggy trips to places like the Iron Age fort of Dun Aonghasa whose rocky bones sit on the airy edge of soaring cliffs:
The mystique and the grand remoteness now default to a footnote on a holiday itinerary of Ireland: to wit, the gigantic Cliffs of Moher and jolly Galway city in the morning and the ‘mystical’ Aran Islands in the afternoon (with time for a Guinness or a gift shop along the way). It’s sad. The old ways are dead. The Aran Islands are a theme park. It’s standing room only on the stone-ribbed lanes with only inches to squeeze past the herds of electric bikes rented to visitors so they can say they’ve ‘done Aran.’
But then again, why shouldn’t the 1300 permanent residents on these little islands use the tourists to make a buck? After all, it could be viewed as a heck of a way easier than wrestling a meagre living from a stern dot of land set in a rumbly sea?
Let the visitors clog the roads with electric bikes and over priced buggie rides to learn about the churches and the ancient remains on this tilted terrain. Let them spend their Euros and dollars and pounds here: it’s a living for many locals. Yes, it’s the commodification of a landscape, it’s a marginal community reduced to a snapshot. But it pays the car insurance, the heating bill, the roof repairs.
And with that, days later, it’s off to Aran’s near namesake. Three hundred miles to the east is the Isle of Arran, floating peacefully near Glasgow.
Here, it’s anything but stern, anything but bleak and uncompromising. It may be a small spelling change (Aran/Arran) but the two islands are worlds apart. The Isle of Arran has been called Scotland in miniature with its jagged ridges in the north:
to its unexplained 18 foot high standing stones on the brooding moorlands:
to its soft and fertile south with its string of seaside villages such as Lamlash (below) and its neighbouring clusters of farms and hamlets:
The reason for the distinct geography is the Highland Fault that runs through the 20 mile length of Arran. It’s a geologist’s dream. And many flock to the terrifically named Hutton’s Unconformity- a fold of rocks below sea cliffs where the 18th century scientist James Hutton proved the earth was hundreds of millions of years old. He ruffled feathers, especially in the church, but laid the base for modern geology.
Standing on the cliffs above Mr Hutton’s discovery, the landscape looks west towards the thin finger of the Kintyre Peninsula. Over the silvery Kilbrannon Sound, hill and upon hill roll before you. Behind is the tiny islet of Gigha with its forgotten gardens and behind that more islands such as Islay with nine whisky distilleries and Jura where George Orwell wrote 1984 in a remote farmhouse.
Turn around to the east and the Arran mountains stand like a sawtoothed looming wall, capped by Goat Fell peak rising from the rocky seashore. At its base there’s a welcoming brewery for those climbing up and down its high shoulders.
But even with these highlights, there are problems in scenic Arran. It’s proximity to Glasgow- a 50 minute ferry- means there’re too many holiday homes. It’s hard for young families to buy or even rent property and start a life.
And as for that vital ferry link, it’s in continual crisis with a backlog of repairs, failed delivery dates and increasing demand. The service some say, is hardly afloat, making it difficult to ensure accurate arrival and departure. On our trip out, we had to board a substitute ferry brought down from the Orkneys. On leaving, the scheduled service never arrived and we waited 90 minutes for the next ferry. Fortunately, it turned up.
So take your pick…The Aran Islands or the Isle of Arran.
But watch out. There’s a third… there’s Aran Island off County Donegal. It sits quietly off the northwest corner of Ireland waiting, I would guess, for a straggle of travellers who read the map too quickly or not too well. Or are enrolled on its summer school for Gaelic studies. Or just simply wonder what awaits them when they land on an unnamed shore.
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John K/ Edinburgh
We used to go to Aran Island off Donegal for our Easter holidays when I was growing up in Dublin. I remember donkey carts collecting seaweed on the beach.
Anne Bell
Enjoyed that
Bella Houston
nice islands
Jim Purdie
We went to the aforementioned Aran Island off Donegal thinking it was THE Aran Islands off Galway instead…whoops
Jean McClarie
I’ve been to Arran many times, but never to Aran.
Bill O’ Moseley
Wonderful to see a geological reference. There are a few “Hutton Unconformities”, probably the most visited is at Siccar Point, Berwickshire. F* impossible to get to, despite a long neglected promise from Edinburgh Uni Geological Society (I was for long an hon’ member) to make a proper path.
Neil Grant
My one brief trip to Arran was a real treat, en route to Skye and beyond, while the west of Ireland is on the bucket list. The Dingle and northwards is a priority. So much to see.
Will Travel
Interesting slant on the two isles
Alex Davidson
Tourism is changing our world. Saw an aerial photo of Arisaig yesterday with 11 camper vans in the layby beside the beautiful beaches
Calum McBride
Arran- and those issues over the ferries !!
Tony Fitzpatrick
Never been to “1-r”
Aran but surely love the “2-r” version.
But which came first?
TG
Give the peak of Goatfell on Arran a go with its good paths and great views
Terry Killonen
I was fortunate enough to spend time on the Aran islands before they became ‘honeypots’.
Liz Meaghan
Families from Aran travelled from the west coast of Ireland every year to harvest potatoes (‘Tattie picking’) near my home in North Ayrshire.
Ellen Vannin
I went to The Aran Islands 40 years ago with a group of geographers who were mapping land use, vegetation types and interviewing the locals about their yearly rhythms and use of the land and sea. The results were published via the research group. We were there in Spring and were the only non-locals as I remember. The people were very welcoming although somewhat puzzled about what we were doing there.
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