The Island - March/April/May 2026
It had been a good while since I was last over in August last year so it was great to get three trips in over the Easter holidays, the first two just a week apart. The third just three weeks later.
Some work was done over the two trips, but the priority was for the boy to enjoy himself so we just tackled a few small jobs inbetween bouts of having fun. The jobs inclulded installing a shelf above the fireplace, finishing the ceiling in the loft and strimming.]
Generally the weather was a little grey and drizzly, not too cold, but we lit the stove in the evenings.
There is always a little uncertainty about what condition the place will be in, especially when I haven’t been over for a long while. On arrival we were greeted with the sight of one sheet of corrugated that had been peeled back by the big storms we had over the winter. Not a big deal and I’m not sure what I thinking of securing it with 3 screws and none near the edge. But lesson learnt.
Previously I used a DeWalt battery strimmer as I wanted to avoid the faff of a petrol one. The reality was through that the battery one wasn’t powerful enough to get the job done. So I returned it and lucky enough to be given a Lidl petrol strimmer which was 5 times more powerful, and started well. Time will tell on the reliability front.
I made good progress on the loft roof, adding the salvaged insulation between the rafters and starting to cover the underside with 6mm ply.
Also did an ugly job of repairing the leak in the boat. And made some shelving out of the wine boxes that I have being gathering from O’Briens.
It was a little weird be great to arrive back on the island less than a week later to some slightly brighter weather. Our journey to and from the island was complicated by the fuel protests, but they didn’t actually delay us much in the end.
We walked the beach and explored a few ruins. I build a shelf above the fireplace and will use it to display all the bottles I found buried in the shed. The lads made a knife and build a chair while it was drizzling out. I mounted an old map of the Shannon Estuary on a spare bit of ply, which turned out well.
After two night we woke to a rising neap tide and a very grey cold morning. We had to wait a while for the water to hit the boat and it was very cold. Packing the boat into the car, something I dread at the best of times was a nightmare – my hands were number and everything was soaking wet and muddy.
And then just under 4 weeks later we went back. On the way over we spotted a number of porpoises in the channel near Horse Island. First job was to build a new outhouse, the first one was built six years ago out of scraps of old timber and sheeted with the remains of the tongue and groove that was on the ceiling. and was always too small so was starting to rot and fall apart.
To protect this one we wrapped it in membrane and used much sturdier treated timber and covered it with leftover corrugated and a scrap of very heavy duty tarp. Hopefully get a bit longer out of this one.
That evening we took a spin around the island, saw some seals in the channel and then made the bumpy crossing to Beaves Lighthouse. On the way back we were lucky enough to spot a majestic white-trailed sea eagle. It was absolutely huge even from a distance and we watched as it flew over to the island. It turns out it was a young bird that was on a tour of the country, it even made the news. We were blessed to see it.
On our last evening we were treated to a beautiful sunset and the next morning the weather was prefect sunny and calm. Always hard to leave when it is so nice, but the pack up was easy compared to last time so that was some consolation.
I’m writing this in late July, I’m a little behind as we had another visit in early July, but I will write that one up separately. Thanks for reading.