Inspiring surroundings for practice

[Mark CH]

Fifth photo: View of the mainland from Skellig. The island between is Little Skellig. It is the world’s second largest Northern Gannet colony. Skellig itself has many, many birds as well.

Beautiful Kevin really beautiful.

[SimonR]

Another wonderful place, any guesses were it is?

[Andrew R]

Any guesses where it is?

I'm pretty sure it starts with a "B" and ends with "lue Mountain."

[Kevin_B]

Skellig Michael - second installment

Continuing our journey on Skellig Michael…

Seventh photo: Looking East towards Kerry. The initial part of the journey on Skellig, from the pier to the first of the 600 steps, is along the Lighthouse keepers’ pathway. That is the path visible here.

[Kevin_B]

Eight photo: Looking West. Next stop: New York!

[Kevin_B]

Ninth photo: Similar to the fifth photo already posted but from a higher view point.


Next installment: The Forgotten Hermitage of Skellig Michael.

[Kevin_B]

The Forgotten Hermitage of Skellig Michael

After climbing many of the 600+ steps on Skellig Michael and at approximately 130 meters above sea-level, pilgrims and day-trippers to the rock arrive at Christ's saddle. This is a U shaped depression which neatly divides Skellig in two (see image 1 below). The Eastern peak (on the RHS in the image) rises to 185 meters and is home to the 8th century Christian monastery which is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
No more than twelve monks and an Abbott are thought to have inhabited the monastery at any one time between the 8th and 12th century. Living here, suspended above the Atlantic Ocean, in extreme isolation, was their version of the early Christian monastic way: union with God through prayer and meditation, living a life of hardship far removed from society and its associated comforts.
For some monks however this was still not enough. For some, even greater extremes were required which is why on the Western Peak, some 215 meters above the ocean, we find the The Forgotten Hermitage of Skellig Michael.

[Kevin_B]

The Hermitage on Skellig was home to a single monk who lived in isolation from the monastery. It is best described by the archaeologists who uncovered it in the 1980’s (1):

“[The hermitage is] one of the most daring architectural expressions of early Irish monasticism: a hermitage built virtually in the air on the treacherous ledges of an Atlantic rock rising straight up from the ocean to an altitude of 218 meters. Level surfaces on which to build the structures necessary for a hermitage did not exist. They had to be created—and were created—by the erection of walls at the brink of steeply slanting ledges, along the very boundary between life and death. These walls could have been built only by men who believed that every stone they laid brought them one step closer to God. By building a hermitage at the top of the island, they reached the ultimate goal of eremitic seclusion—a place as near to God as the physical environment would permit."

The hermitage consisted of three separate terraces: The oratory terrace, garden terrace and outer terrace. An aerial photo of the remains of the hermitage is shown below (image 2). An artistic rendering from the same point of view is also given (image 3).


1 - http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpresse...&brand=ucpress

[Kevin_B]

Ariel view of the Western Peak (image 4). The garden terrace is visible to the lower right and the dotted line is the route to the outer terrace . The oratory terrace is not visible. In the background the Eastern peak of Skellig looms. We can see the beehive huts of the monastery nestled on the southern slope of the peak.

[Kevin_B]

The pathway to the terraces from Christ’s saddle is extremely arduous and virtually eroded in places so, needless to say, the remains of the hermitage and the entire Western peak are strictly off limits to visitors to the Island. The closest one can get is the view from Christ’s saddle: Photo 10 – pathway to the Western peak from Christ’s saddle. The base of the Western peak is on the right. Photo 11 shows the view of the Western peak from the Eastern peak.

Next installment: Journey to the monastery from Christ’s saddle.

[gusty]

Stunning, and thought provoking....Thank you for posting these....Gusty

[Kevin_B]

Photo 12 - After an initial steep climb from Christ’s saddle, the path to the monastery on Skellig levels off. The views are breathtaking and the air is very fresh.

[Kevin_B]

Photo 13 - Suddenly an ancient stone wall appears on your left: the outer wall of the monastery has been reached! The photo here shows the view looking back along the path such that the wall is on the right-hand side.

[Kevin_B]

Photo 14 - A doorway appears in the outer wall and, walking through it, we have reached the outer garden of the monastery. We can see the main entrance to the monastery at the end of the pathway which cuts through the garden.

[Peter Clayton]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I thought I would contribute to this thread also. I train most days in a room in my house but whenever I can I train in a lovely part of Killarney National Park known as the Desmene

For privacy I use a wonderful little woodland clearing which is found down this path: