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The Times Educational Supplement (UK) - 02 October 1983
Decidedly Irish - David Wickers visits the Aran Islands
'You can't go straight there. Even if it were practically possible it would hardly be a fitting way to arrive at what have been billed as the outer fringes of the universe....
...Although I am still drive and a three-hour sail away from the Isles of Aran, nee Inishmore, Inishmaan and Inisheer, in geological terms I am already in the family. The islands are at the end of a long arm of abrasive limestone that starts at the Burren in mainland County Clare, disappears at the coast, and pops up again across the mouth of Galway Bay.
I stopped for a lunch to remember at Moran's at the Weir in the heart of oyster country. Noel Coward had got here before me and had scribbled a couple of witty ditties on his napkin, one of which ended with a warning about "after all those oysters and the whiskies you drink here, you might also see mermaids gently swimming in the weir."
The nearest you're likely to come to a mermaid is the Oyster Pearl who is crowned at Galway's Oyster Festival, held here every September. "The Oyster Pearl", explains Victor, who's working behind the bar, "comes in from the sea, except that if the tide's out she comes by road and the car drops her off just round the corner. Then the oyster opening race stars."
Willie Moran, son of the owner of Moran's, invariably wins. Not really surprising since he happens to be the world champion oyster opener, capable of dispatching 30 oysters, without damage, in one minute, thirty-two seconds.'........
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