I don't know how we got here on this island hilltop, my trusty pony Roisin and me. I try to avoid falling asleep in sacred stone circles since the time Feargus and I unwittingly went on a strange trip after resting near the Cailleach's ring between Lough Mask and Ballinshruane. We woke up in Inver Colpa about a few hundred years later, but that's another story.

A misty wind blows hard around this strange peak. Roisin snorts and sniffs the air, smelling the loch. Well, no matter how we got up here, we need to get down and find out how to get home again. I press my heels into the pony's sides. She doesn't budge. Roisin isn't stupid. She can see the steep embankment before us and the strange landscape below, a combination of rocks, sand and water. I can't tell how deep the water is but my intuition tells me the tide is rising. I give Roisin a kick. She complains with a shrill whinny.

I squeeze her with my legs to urge her forward. She takes one step and stumbles. Roisin tries to keep from tumbling down the hill but her hooves are already in motion whether she likes it or not. She scrambles awkwardly, carrying me down the slope at a jolting gait as she tries not to loose her footing. We arrive at the bottom of the hill in a shower of loose gravel and pebbles at the edge of the loch. I can see a larger body of land across the way.

The tide is definitely rising fast. The water is almost covering the array of oddly shaped rocks that are scattered between here and the mainland. With hidden dangers, the crossing will be risky. We have to get off this island. I hop down to quickly check Roisin's legs and hooves. She's not hurt by the dangerous descent so I stroke her nose and explain quietly to her what we must do next. I mount up again and she wades into the water right away.

I feel the tide tugging at her and the water is only up to her belly. There is a very strong current here that could knock her over or drag her up against one of those rough sided rocks. Roisin points her nose to the other shore and keeps going. I help to guide her through a maze of sharp stones and shifting sands. Finally we reach the opposite shore!

A pleasant view meets the eye from here. It looks like a pathway leads along the beach at the edge of a forest. I notice the wet ground has ruts and hoofmarks on it. A chariot must have recently passed through here. I click my tongue to Roisin and we follow the path at an easy trot.