A man who has lived on a remote Donegal island for the past 20 years packed his bags and left for the last time this morning.
Musician and poet Barry Edgar Pilcher, 70, moved to the island of Inishfree in 1993 with his wife Eve and daughter Alice.
Eve and Alice left some time later but Barry decided to stay on and has lived alone on the island since then.
For the past number of years he has lived a life of solitude, playing his saxophone and taking a boat to Burtonport once a week for supplies.
There are some holiday homes on the island but Barry was the only year-round resident.
Barry, who is originally from London, revealed a number of months ago that he was leaving the island as his wife was in ill health and he wanted to spend more time with his brother.
This morning he began the journey to leave Donegal and to start a new chapter in his life back in England.
And his wife and family were there to meet him at Burtonport when he left Inishfree this morning.
Barry admitted that he had to be hardy to lead an island-life for the past two decades.
He joked it was difficult to order a curry and kept in touch with friends and family through Skype.
“You have to be tough to live out here,” he said. “I’ll be glad when I can move on in life.”
His island cottage has served as the island’s polling booth as well, though other islanders who voted there maintained their principal residence on the mainland.
Mr. Pilcher said he will miss certain aspects of island life.
“It is very magical out here,” he said. “There is no street lighting so you can see the stars at night and things like that.”
Tags:
