Cape Clear adventures: Part I

6/5:
The ferry men poked fun at us about our bikes for the majority of the 45 minute boat ride. But as soon as the rocky shores of Cape Clear appeared we realized why. The cliffs of the island towered above the ferry as we pulled into the harbor. One small beach was nestled into the hill while behind it, the spread of Irish green shrubbery sloped steeply upwards.
After a noble quarter of an hour pushing our bikes up a neverending steep grade, we ditched them by the side of the road and continued on foot. Without the bikes our pace quickened and we finally made it to the top of the ridge where a small road took us alongside a sprinkling of tiny cottages. Using our finicky map we guided ourselves to the house of one of Giana's friends, Ed Harper, a supposed goat farmer. Sure enough tangled in the nettle weeds and barely visible by the side of the road, a tiny painted goat face peeped out at us signaling towards a tiny cottage on the left hand side of the road. Cautiously, we opened the creaky gate and went down to explore only to run into a tiny old man whom we found to be Ed. He immediately invited us into the milking parlor with the promise of tea after the goats had been milked. It was only on our way down the windy path when he asked us the number of cats we saw that we noticed he was completely blind. A large barking german shephard named Zach fit into the picture perfectly when we noticed his guide dog vest. But Zach stayed inside as we went to see the goats and Ed carried on perfectly. Both Marion and I looked at each other questioningly when we saw the eight goats lined up and ready to be milked, wondering how he would ever manage. But Ed never hesitated, feeling each goat he named them off to us and then went on about his business, carefully cleaning udders and milking each goat one by one. With utmost patience, the goats treated him like an equal and Marion and I looked on in complete awe. Jaws dropped, we watched as he systematically milked every goat before filtering all the milk to later make into his special freezable cheese and icecream. All the while he talked on and on and we discussed all matter of goat-y things. He explained his recent problems with infertility in the herd and how he blamed GMO soy feed. To add to the series of curious events, the cashier woman from the Schull Eurospar store walked in halfway through and Ed later explained it was his ex-wife. Marion and I once again looked at each other in shock only to look down and notice we had already spent two whole hours chatting! Excusing ourselves, we didn't end up leaving without a 12euro copy of Ed's latest album and two free goat icecreams.