Cliffs of Moher:
I write this and we are now in
Galway. We left Dingle yesterday morning and it was foggy and damp, so we were
lucky we had the good weather we had had.
Drove through the Connor pass- what
they call the highest mountain pass in Ireland. Reaching a magnificent 450
meters it was soon over with and we were on the other side, where, lo and
behold the sun was shining! Followed the road to Tarbert where we boarded the
ferry (20 minutes) so we wouldn't have to drive all the way around through
Limerick.
Stopped for lunch (soup and brown soda bread, an addicting
combination) in a little pub in Kilrush and then carried on. Drizzle and fog,
and we are heading towards the cliffs of Moher (pronounced "more" for
those of you who are wondering). Decided it wasn't worth it to try and see them
today, and headed to our hotel in the wee village of Ennistymon, where it was
still drizzling.
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| No matter what I do to reorient these photos, it never works! |
It is Sunday, and almost 5 pm. Not much is open. Our hotel/b
and b is an old hotel (built in 1881) on the banks of the River Cullanagh.
Our room looks out on to the rapids, wide
slabs of limestone, with lots of quickly moving water. Even though we are 4
flights of stairs up (yes, 4, narrow, windy stairs) the river is like a roar in
the room. But the room is cute and quaint, with a black and white tiled
bathroom, and ancient wallpaper on the
walls. Luckily the restaurant downstairs is open for dinner, because there are
no other options!
We wander down the
road to a wee bar to have a drink, and encounter the cutest place, with
a lovely proprietor named Eugene. It is cosy, with a peat fire burning in the
old fireplace, a zillion business cards and pictures tacked to the walls, and
it is quiet, with just a few folks sitting, having a pint and chatting. There
are pictures of folks from many years ago, sayings and poems on the walls,
pennants from sports teams, you name it, the walls and ceiling are covered.
What a nightmare it would be to clean!
Another bar up the road had what
I thought was an interesting combination of businesses. Read the sign
carefully! We had dinner (pan fried fresh trout, it was so delicious) and
headed for bed as this cold has us both knackered.
This morning the sun was
shining, and off we went to join 40,000 tour buses and a million other people on
the cliffs of Moher. I wish I had been able to go here 50 years ago, before the
tourism business caught up with it. It is lovely, but now just another tourist
trap. After a walk along the slippery muddy track along the cliffs we decide to
get away from all these other people and head toward Kilfenora ,a village on
the edge of The Burren, a National Park which includes the cliffs, the Aran
Islands and a huge plateau of land
further inland from the coast.
There we spend a bit of time at the small museum
which explains why this land is so different from the rest of Ireland. There is
also the remains of an old cathedral (12th century) and an old castle (13th
century). This terrain is entirely different from anything else we have seen in
Ireland. Gone are the rolling green hills dotted with rock fences and sheep.
Instead it is all replaced with an almost lunar landscape of rock, limestone
and shale, folded and refolded on itself, broken in places, looking sort of
like very dry mud that has cracked. This area of land was formed millions of
years ago as a result of a vast tropical sea bed being pushed up by the ice age
and other geological factors. There is evidence of human habitation going back
to before Christ was born. People have even been farming this area for hundreds
of years, although it must be difficult to do with so little topsoil. It was
fascinatingly different from everywhere else we have been.
The road takes us
back to the very pretty coast road again and into Galway, the biggest city we
have been in since we left Cork. And it is rush hour, although the traffic is
moving fairly well. Our b and b is across the bridge in West Galway, away from
the city centre, and a short walk to Galway Bay.
Tomorrow will be explore day!
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