'The Beginning'

My whole life changed in a very simple way with a letter. I did not know who would receive it and had no idea that it would lead me to leave my country and begin a journey to a tiny remote island, which in a strange way I had always known of, but then again I knew nothing about, and spend it with the most extraordinary person I would ever hope to meet. To look back now I can scarcely believe it all happened and that it would be so exciting.

This journey would lead to supreme happiness and the deepest sadness, ending in tragedy, however it is all true and I’ve never regretted the least part of it.

The island ‘Rathlin’ is a tiny place just 7 miles long and 2 miles wide, which lies 3 miles at its nearest point off the coast of Northern Ireland. Its nearest mainland harbour is in the seaside town of Ballycastle. On a beautiful sunny day standing on the mainland, you can look across the Seas of Moyle and be enraptured by the island dancing in the sunlight, so near you could imagine touching it, yet at the same time it seems just out of reach, remote and unobtainable, like some magical far off land waiting for your presence to spring to life and somehow like all islands, captures your imagination.