Thursday, August 11, 2022

Sherkin Island: The Raffle

I'd never heard of Clonakilty, Ireland. But when I was browsing on Roy Harper's website and saw that he had a concert in a bar in Clonakilty, I bought tickets without really thinking about it, and then retro-fitted my first trip to Ireland. 

It was wonderful.

And one day as I was leaving the bed and breakfast where we stayed in Clonakilty...which is here _____


...and which I'm reasonably sure was the Bay View House Bed and Breakfast...

I looked at a table by the door and saw a brochure for a boat trip from Baltimore, Ireland, to some nearby island or islands. It probably wouldn't have caught my eye if not for the fact that I was born and grew up in Baltimore, Maryland. I picked up the brochure, gave it a quick glance, thought it looked interesting...but realized that there was no way that I would have time to make such a trip, since we were due in Dublin venisoon.

But it stuck in my mind.

And eventually I found out that said Baltimore...


...hosted something called a Fiddle Fair every year. And so I got in touch with my #1🌞 and we made plans to attend the 2014 iteration of said Fair.

It was wonderful.

And at some point we discovered that just a short way across the water...


...was a place called Sherkin Island. (I'm still wondering about that Walking Distance thing....) And on Sherkin Island you could find, among other things, a Friary which had been built sometime around 1460. So of course we had to grab a ferry ride and have a look at that.

picture ©BrotherK

picture ©BrotherK

picture ©BrotherK


And shortly thereafter I decided that Sherkin Island was my favorite place on Earth.

It's funny. 

I would never have heard of Clonakilty, Ireland, if I hadn't bought tickets for a Roy Harper concert which I had no reason whatsoever to buy. And I would never have heard of Baltimore,  Ireland, if I hadn't visited Clonakilty and caught a glimpse of a brochure as I was heading out the door. And I would never have heard of Sherkin Island if I hadn't visited Baltimore. And without all of those unlikely events, I would never have found my favorite place on this planet.

I don't know if I'll get back to Sherkin Island. I'm old, I've got two adult autistic children who depend on me on an every day basis, and I don't really like to travel much anymore. But I still think about it, and I follow it online...through a Facebook group, for one thing...so I can keep tabs on it in some way.

Which is how I happened upon the information that the islanders are attempting to buy an old school building so that they can turn it to some community use. And they're struggling to raise the money. At present, they've raised € 41,043.00 (about $42,353) of the                € 80,000.00 (82,553) they need to make the purchase. And you know what? If I had $40,000 to spare, I'd be sorely tempted to start throwing down those hundred dollar bills.

Well, I can't do that...but I just found something that I can do. And guess what? You can, too! Check this out:


You can get all of the details HERE, but the short version is that a mere € 10 (about $10) gets you a shot at the holiday, and you can spend it on Sherkin Island!

And it's for 4, so if you win and I don't, you'll still have room to invite me along as a Thank You for letting you know about this. See? It's win-win-win! (That's counting the win for the Sherkin Island community, you, and me--in case you weren't keeping score.)

240 tickets have already been sold, so don't wait too long to buy yours!

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