Climbing to the top of Skellig Michael was a trip into antiquity…and to the deep-freeze. The winds blew and the temperature dropped as we ventured to the remains of this remote Irish Christian monastery that was abandoned in the 12th century and relocated to the Augustinian Monastery at Ballinskelligs in County Kerry on the mainland. What these rocks, coated with centuries of lichens and mosses have witnesses is documented by historians. That they remain shows the power of nature’s endurance. Prior to this trip, I had not heard of either Skellig. We swung like a pendulum, on a rope to get from the rocking boat to the landing ledge and then hugged the steep mountain as we climbed 755 feet to the top. We visited in September of 1999 and saw that archeological excavations and reconstruction was underway.
