So the story begins. Back in 1976 when I was born, well I couldn’t remember much if nothing at all, there was something that happened since 1977 that has been a constant in my life that I can’t even remember my first encounter with, it was just always there, yes that was Star Wars. Fast forward to 2017 and Star Wars is still a constant in my life and still as big if not bigger than 1976, last year in 2016 The Force Awakens was released and the world again was excited to visit “A Galaxy Far Far Away”.
Well (spoilers) In the film The Force Awakens at the final scene we see our new hero Ray meeting long time superhero and master Jedi Luke Skywalker, the scene only lasted for 3 minutes but was the best part of the film for many fans including myself, what did intrigue me was the beautiful location in which it was filmed and decided I need to go there, below is a bit of walk-through my visit to those Islands.
After some research I find out that the location of the Islands was located in Southwest Kerry in Ireland, the best location I could find to actually get to the Islands was from a little fishing town called Portmagee.
From here I would have to book a place on many of the boats making regular trips out to the Island, I would always advise people to book early unlike me who didn’t book anything, I suppose it’s all part of the journey, seat booked I was now on my way to the Skelligs unsure of what to expect.
Maybe an hour into the boat trip and the first Island you visit is little Skellig.
Me been so focused on the main Island completely overlooked this Island and what a surprise it was to see, over 5000 gannets all breeding on the Island along with some seals, the water surrounding this Island is so blue and I have never noticed anything so remote before, the boat circles the little Island for some extra viewing, I loved this Island and the good thing about it is that no people are allowed on the Island to disturb the wildlife.
On the main Skallig Island you have to get of the boat at a point called “Blind Man’s Cove” again the water surrounding this area is completely blue which must be good for the eco-system on these Islands.
When on the Island the only way is up and along the route you come across so many different types of birds such as, Razorbills, Herring Gulls and the star of the Island the Puffins.
The walk to the top can be difficult and you need to concentrate all the time but getting to the top is worth it, the path is quite old and I was forever asking who on earth decided to live here ?.
So what did I learn about Star Wars well very little really, I manage to see that the local pub must have had some fun with the stars of the film as Mark Hamill challenges you to the Guinness pour challenge.
I also managed to work out some locations that were used in the film
but apart from that I didn’t really think about it much to be honest as I was in awe of the true Beauty of the Island.
When you get to the summit there is an old monastery and luckily enough for me a guide to give you a 30-minute chat about the history of the place.
30 minutes later I was hooked on the history of this place and my journey was worth every minute of getting to the summit. What did I learn, well a brief history of the place but I’m not going to tell, that’s for you to find out.
The main lesson I learned is life is a great journey, the things you go to look for are not always the things you find. This place is very special for a lot of reasons and if you ever have the chance to go I would recommend it very much, thanks for reading and may the force be with you.
