Stop me if you’ve heard this one. Wake up to a wee bit o’rain, drive ‘til it mostly stops, then see some very interesting things. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. What? You didn’t say stop. We were off to see our next destination, the Cliffs of Moher. Google Maps indicated a drive of about 2.5 hours, just long enough to desperately want to hike around in any sort of weather. We hopped in the car, programmed the GPS and took off, shouting “Tally Ho” for no particular reason. The day cleared a little as we passed through various patches of sunshine and rain, perfect for rainbow spotting. We faithfully followed the GPS (nicknamed Nanny Perkins) turn by turn until she said something like “drive 400 meters and get on the ferry”. This vacation was turning into a “Planes, Trains & Automobiles” sequel. Now with a flipping boat ride! Get on the ferry? What ferry? Where was she taking us? Not trusting the disembodied voice of evil Nanny Perkins, we checked a paper road map, Google maps again and a tour bus driver named Pierce. We found that in this case the Naninator did not lie. Indeed, ferries do exist, except you pay a pot of gold to ride this one. We had to wait less than half an hour for it to arrive, just enough time to get the complete tour of the bus. What a driver! The 20 minute ferry ride shaved off a significant amount of time over driving further inland and around the bay through Shannon. The wind was whipping around on deck so we mostly stayed in the car and actually had time to read the books we’d brought along but had barely opened as we’d been quite tired each evening.
After the exiting ferry, it wasn’t a long drive to the Cliffs. Along the way we passed a true “links-style” golf course. Though we have some links-style courses here in the US, we doubt any of them are quite like those in Ireland and the UK. They reminded us of a mini-golf course, as there were craggy hills 20-feet high right in the middle of the fairway or just off to the side. We saw golfers up on top of these, pitching down to the green. If you want to golf in Ireland, you must be prepared to play in the rain. Maybe not in downpours but certainly a light, blowing rain must not bother you. If you want to wait for a dry 4-hour block to play 18 holes, you may be waiting a long time.
Around 11 a.m. we reached the beautiful Cliffs of Moher. Some of the guidebooks complained about the visitor center but we found it very practical as it’s embedded inside a hill which makes it highly energy efficient and has a relatively low impact on disturbing the natural beauty around it. The wind was blowing quite bit, so we took a few minutes to step inside the visitor’s center and wait for the weather to hopefully improve. During the short time we were inside, our good fortune held and the wind did die down a bit. Though it wasn’t sunny, the low clouds that obscured our view when we first arrived had lifted a tad and allowed us some good photos of the 200 ft. drop to the sea. After spending a good half-hour walking back and forth along the pathways, we had to check out the gift shop (naturally) before getting back to our car.
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| Cliffs of Moher - Co. Clare |
Our next stop was an artsy, little town called Doolin. It’s billed as a place where locals sell handmade items and one-of-a-kind souvenirs. So we keyed the city name in the GPS. But Doolin is so small that Nanny didn’t recognize it! We found a nearby town for the Naninator and managed to find our way to it. From there, the only road led to Doolin. We were slightly worried we’d have trouble finding our B&B as it doesn’t have an address. But we shouldn’t have, as all the various B&Bs were listed at the only intersection. Most were in walking distance from the main road.
This main road was the town’s “shopping district” which was one strip that consisted of a hotel, a gift shop, the tourist information center, a fancier restaurant attached to the hotel (which was closed) and the pub. There was also a B&B across the street that had a seafood restaurant. And that was it. There was supposedly another pub somewhere about but it wasn’t in walking distance and we never found it. We were pretty hungry from the hiking so we chose the pub we could find.
After delicious lunch, we stopped by the tourist information center to figure out what we were going to do for the afternoon. Based on what we found there and on what we’d read in our guide books we decided to visit a national park called The Burren. A burren is basically a rocky hill. Grass grows over it but a lot of rock shows through. The main burren in the park is a small mountain. It is shockingly very green and not so surprisingly very craggy. Within the park, we stopped for a couple of the attractions, each with a gift shop.
The first was the Birds of Prey Center. We’d just missed the last public showing of the day but the woman in the office told us not to worry because Jamie had just taken a couple of the hawks out the other way and he’d be back soon. So while we waited for Jamie, we walked around and looked at some birds we’d seen and others that were new to us. When Jamie returned, he and his assistant put their birds into their aviary and then he introduced us to Juan, a Harris Hawk. Juan was still relatively young so he
was still in training for the public show. But he let us tag along as he took Juan to the small arena where the show was held, so he could work with him some more. We watched as he’d shoot small scraps of meat into the air with a slingshot and see if Juan could catch it midair. He did once or twice but only after being lazy sometimes and not even trying to catch it. When that happened Jamie would get to the meat before the bird did and use it for the next time, instead of rewarding him for not trying. Eventually Jamie asked if we wanted to put on his leather glove and hold the hawk. Auburn sincerely hoped that was code for something else, but apparently something was lost in translation. So of course, we did! And it was just as exciting as the other hoped for item. Ok …. Not really, but still awfully thrilling.We had just over an hour before the park closed. We headed for our other stop, the Ailwee Cave, but only after buying locally produced fudge and cheese. MMMM Fudge and Cheese!
This cave was discovered in 1944 by the farmer who owned land, but he didn’t tell anyone about it for nearly 30 years. Once cavers began exploring they realized it was over 1 km deep though only half that much is open to the public. Exploration of the cave continues though there are certain terrain features (like 6m drops) that may prevent those parts from ever being publicly available.
It was nearly dark when we exited the cave so we made our way back to Doolin along the national highway and regional roads – only this time in the dark. That’s not an experience we want to re-enact! Between the hedgerows being trimmed and a couple of switchbacks, it was challenging. We missed our turn back to Doolin after switching off Nanny Perkins. But wee little lost sheep found our way back to the Pub. It turns out Auburn has a nose like a bloodhound when it comes to Guinness. Since the pub was offering live, traditional Irish music that night, we went back to enjoy our hearty Irish meal with Irish songs full of sorrow.
The B&B was nice and modern but it had the worst Wi-Fi of anywhere we stayed. Our typical pattern had been to stay and explore our current town until at least mid-morning but Doolin was so small we were resigned to just heading back toward Dublin the next day. But Auburn’s offhand remark changed our course. Most people reading this would bet we ended up in yet another jail or pub and in honor of the magnificent Cliffs of Moher…… Dun, Dun, Dunnnnn!
This is a cliff hanger! (Auburn really cracks herself up!)
