The Real West of Ireland,Galway to Limerick via the Burren

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Tuesday 9th June
The real West of Ireland,Galway to Limerick via the Burren

The fine dry weather continues for us and its amazing to think that since we started travelling on 19th April we have had only one day of rain and that was in Santorini,a place we least expected it.
The tour director ,whose cold she reckoned was starting to improve,had what looked like a relatively short drive on the plans for today to Limerick.Well it would have been a short drive had we taken the direct route but that would have meant we would have missed one of Ireland’s most spectacular scenic sights,the Cliffs of Moher.
The early part of the drive out of Galway took us around the end of the huge Galway Bay and then east into the area known as the Burren.
It was certainly a different landscape that came into view as we left the bay and climbed up to about 400metres.The Burren is about 340sq km in size with the feature of the land being limestone.So instead of looking out over rolling green fields the view was over rolling limestone rock with little vegetation growing in the sparse soil.
We stopped at Corcomroe Abbey,another very well preserved building from the 1100’s.The abbey was built by monks in a rather deserted part of the country.History showed that the monks lived a very spartan lifestyle although they had built the abbey on the floor of a valley where there was at least some fertile soil in this limestone dominated area.This abbey also had parts of outlying building that were used during the time the monks lived here.Other building s have not been evident at other abbeys we have visited and perhaps it was the remoteness of the site that has meant these buildings have survived,at least in part.
Then it was back up the hill again to a Neolithic site that has been preserved by the National Trust because of it’s importance to Irelands ancient history.The tomb that has been preserved sat in the middle of a limestone formation that looked like it had been created by volcanic flow yet it was limestone and not lava.Information about the site told us that the area had been covered by more fertile soil in ancient times and people had lived on this exposed hilltop over 3000 years ago.The tomb is actually older than the pyramids we visited in Egypt by about 400 years.Bones found in or near the tomb had been carbon dated to discover when they had been place there.
The dry and windless day made it a good one to visit this rather exposed hilltop site and we imagined how trying it would be if it had been windy with mist or rain.
Then it was down the hill to an ancient stone ring fort from a similar time which the tourist brochure we had on the area suggested that the fort these days “was occupied by little men wearing orange hats and with green beards”.Well ,we didn’t see any of these men!!
We rejoined the coastal road again at Ballyvaughn and continued to follow Galway Bay as it opened out to the Atlantic Ocean.For our lunch stop we joined a group of fishermen to see what was biting today.We were told we were an hour too early as the mackerel wouldn’t be arriving for another hour!!Without being actually told why there would be this delay before they caught any fish we decided it had something to do with the tidal flow and they were using the time to practice their casting out into the bay.
The road turned south away from the bay and the Aran Isles,just off shore, came into view.The isles are made up of 3 main islands,all very flat but appeared fertile.Further south the coastline had tall cliffs dominating the scene and we were only an hour away from the main attraction for the day.
Before reaching the cliffs we passed through several small seaside villages and then the road headed inland at Lisadoonvarna(where do they get these names from??!!).The scenery on this exposed west coast was very striking.
We knew we were approaching the Cliffs of Moher as from the top of a hill we could see hundreds of cars and some buses in a parking area off the side of the road.
After our experience at the Giants Causeway and leaving our car exposed away from where we were sightseeing because we didn’t want to pay the exhorbitant parking fee,we opted this time to pay the fee and get some security of our luggage etc left in the car.So we coughed up the €8 and joined the throngs on the path to what was a very spectacular site.
The first thing we noticed was how environmentally friendly the site was with 5 or 6 shops built into the hillside as were the toilets and restaurant a little closer to the viewing area.Whoever designed this site should be given a medal as it meant that you could still have a commercial side to the site but that it was unobstrusive to the reason why people actually came here.
There are 3 main viewing platforms of the tallest cliffs in Europe towering over 300 metres above the Atlantic Ocean.
We probably visited the cliffs on the calmest day of the year as the sea meeting the cliffs was so calm from the lack of wind that there was hardly any backwash.
It was a real United Nations here today and it was difficult at times to get a spot to run the video without getting a commentary in some foreign language!!
At the left hand end of the viewing area there were signs not to proceed past a solid barrier as it was onto private land that was also unprotected by a wall that stopped people from getting too close to the sheer fall to the sea.
And what were people doing by the dozen.......you got it...they were ignoring the signs and taking the cliff to get a different view.As if it was really necessary as the three main viewing areas gave you a different aspect each time.They even walked past a memorial to those who had lost their lives by falling from the cliff either intentionally or otherwise.And it wasn’t as if they wouldn’t understand what the notice said as it was in about 6 different languages!!!
Although we missed seeing the sea crashing up against the cliffs because of the lack of wind it also made viewing that much easier and enjoyable.We did however experience a brief light shower of rain that appeared suddenly from the sea.
The it was on through more coastal scenery and villages with names like Milltown Malbay,Kilkee and Kilrush before with time starting to march on we took an inland road to our nights accommodation at the Travelodge in Limerick.
With an Aldi supermarket across the road from the hotel we brought frozen dinners and put our new microwave to use for the first time.The day seems to be getting longer as we have headed further west and it was still quite light well after 10pm.Luckily the room has heavy curtains and we were able to shut out most of the light to get to sleep after a long but very scenic sightseeing day.

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Comments

[Rin]

Glad to see you enjoyed the Cliffs of Moher...it was incredibly windy the day we visited and I was convinced one of the idiots crossing the barrier was going to get blown off the edge. At least people like that make you feel smarter!! Did you happen to see the castle at Kinvarra?

[Chris]

8 Euros!!
We got to the Cliffs of Moher late enough (early Oct) to see the sun set - about 7:00pm. Got back to the carpark and the attendant had gone (at about 5:30pm) so free parking. Still have the ticket so it's probably going to cost thousands if I take it back.