The Blaskets: Island Writers of the Dingle Gaeltacht
Kerry, Ireland
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375
XP
1 day
The Blaskets: Island Writers of the Dingle Gaeltacht
375 XP
The Great Blasket produced an extraordinary body of literature for a place that never held more than a couple of hundred people — Peig Sayers, Tomás Ó Criomhthain and Muiris Ó Súilleabháin all wrote in Irish about a life that was already ending, and Peig's memoir became required reading for generations of Irish schoolchildren, to their lasting resentment. The island was evacuated in 1953. The Blasket Centre at Dún Chaoin tells it from the mainland, and boats cross when the weather allows.
Required Activities
1
of 5
Visit the Blasket Islands Centre at Dún Chaoin and find Peig Sayers' story in it
2
of 5
Cross to the Great Blasket Island itself, weather permitting, and walk the abandoned village
3
of 5
Read a passage of Tomás Ó Criomhthain or Muiris Ó Súilleabháin while you are on the island or looking at it
4
of 5
From Dún Chaoin look across the sound and pick out the line of the abandoned village on the island's slope
5
of 5
Stand at Dún Chaoin pier, the mainland end of the evacuation route used in 1953
Visit the Blasket Islands Centre at Dún Chaoin and find Peig Sayers' story in it
Cross to the Great Blasket Island itself, weather permitting, and walk the abandoned village
Read a passage of Tomás Ó Criomhthain or Muiris Ó Súilleabháin while you are on the island or looking at it
From Dún Chaoin look across the sound and pick out the line of the abandoned village on the island's slope
Stand at Dún Chaoin pier, the mainland end of the evacuation route used in 1953
Before you go
The Blasket Centre opens from early March to early November; boats to the Great Blasket run in the summer season and only when the sea allows.
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XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
375 XP
Potential total
375 XP
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