This article is from page 21 of the 2005-09-13 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 21 JPG
FOR 20 years, Fanore man Joe Queally has been travelling to the Blasket islands.
This week, Joe sets out again to follow in the footsteps of his literary hero, Tomas O Criomh- WerenOOP
Located off the tip of the Dingle Peninsula, the Blaskets don’t seem the most obvious location to spend a month on holi- CMA
Great Blasket Island comprises 1,100 acres of unspoilt, | mountainous Keeney
It is four miles long and half a mile wide.
For Joe, the attraction has always been a spir- itual one.
“My biggest reason for going out to the Blaskets has always been my fas- cination with the island people.
“IT wanted to walk in the footsteps of Tomas O Criomhthain, Peig Sayers and Muiris O’Sullivan.
“There’s an awful lot of fascination to be able Ke say I stayed in Tomas O Criomhthain’s house. It is very special to me.
“There 1S one room 1n Tigh an Ri where John Millington Synge wrote a lot of the