Cliffs of Moher

Day 2 in Ireland was much sunnier. We decided it was a good day to take a trip to the Cliffs of Moher. Unfortunately, everyone else thought the same and our tour bus was packed. I ended up sitting in the front seat next to the bus driver, which made for an interesting photo perspective.


The roadway towards Kinvara from Galway gave us a glimpse of the rocky hills to come.


I didn't really mean to take a photo this way, but it turned out kind of neat.


Sitting in the front seat made me think the road was even narrower than it looked before. I would not want to be a driver passing in the other direction!

As we continued up into the hills of The Burren the amount of rock (limestone) increased and vegetation taller than grass pretty much disappeared. I thought the paint marks on the road here were also pretty funny since they are almost the exact opposite of the U.S.

Our first stop was Poulnabrone Dolmen. I took a picture of the sign because I figured I wouldn't remember later (I didn't). Poulnabrone Dolmen means 'the hole of sorrows.' Must be a favorite on Halloween.

This is the Poulnabrone Dolmen. To me, this looked like a mini Stonehenge section consisting of two vertical 'legs' and a 'table top' which supposedly create a 'tomb portal.' In 1985 one of the table legs collapsed from a crack that had formed. During the replacement of the leg, archaeologists uncovered human remains and artifacts dating back to about 2500 B.C. There are over 70 other tombs in the area. Seems an unlikely area for tombs since digging would be difficult, but maybe that is why they have these 'portals' (?)

I thought this boulder was neat since it seemed ready to roll away any minute.

Since our bus was so packed, we were not able to stop at the next sight, Leamanagh Castle (Leamanagh means horse's leap). I had a good view of the side of the castle, but not so good view of the front. The tower end (the end I took a photo of), was constructed in 1490, and the rest of the castle in the 1600s. At any rate, the castle has an interesting story. It was apparently the home of aptly named Maire Rua O'Brien (Red Mary), who had flaming red hair and a personality to match. Legend has it that she threw her third husband out a third story window, but no evidence was ever found to substantiate the claim.

We then traveled through Lisdoonvarna (don't ask me how to pronounce that). The town was founded around a mineral spring tourist trap about 150 years ago called 'The Spa' to which Irish people came from near and far. The tourist influx led to the development of the matchmaking business for which the town is now supposedly famous. The tour guide said September is peak matchmaking time, stemming from the days when the men would come back to town from harvesting crops to find a wife. Lucky for Pat, I was here in March :-)

On to the Cliffs of Moher. Being a geotechnical engineer, I was impressed by the Cliffs subterranean visitor center. Must have had to do some blasting for that.

My first view of the Cliffs was breathtaking. With a view like this, it was difficult to think of their name meaning 'cliffs of ruin.'

O'Brien's tower stands on the northeast end of the Cliffs. It was built in 1835 by local landlord Cornelius O'Brien to accomodate the flocks of people visiting the Cliffs. We didn't really feel like paying to go up in the tower to get a view of the Cliffs into the sun, but it was a neat looking structure, nonetheless.

This is my favorite photo of the Cliffs. The Cliffs are generally about 400 feet at the southwestern end, and rise to a height of 700 feet near O'Briens tower. The Cliffs are composed of Namurian shale (about 300 million years old) and limestone.

Me at the cliffs!

It is easy to see why this location has been the backdrop for scenes in several movies, including the Princess Bride (Cliffs of Insanity) and Harry Potter.

People along the trail give a sense of scale to the height of the cliffs. Yes, that little depression of grass along the edge of the cliff in the foreground is the trail.

We walked a ways until we had to stop in order to make it back to the bus on time. We thought this would be a good spot for a sibling photo op. As I was setting up for the photo, Andy and Jenn proceeded with their rendition of Irish 'dancing.'

They finally stopped dancing long enough for the shot.

Andy infront of me heading back along the trail. You are probably wondering why the trail is on the cliff side of the barriers. Well, turns out those barriers are to keep the tourists out of the adjacent farmland. Technically, you are not supposed to walk past the sign waaaay back to the northeast of here, not far southeast of O'Brien's Castle. As you can tell, though, few heed the CYA warning sign and forge ahead along the trail.

The terrain is surprisingly flat to the east, and gradually slopes towards another ocean bay.

Along the trail back, we had to stop for another pic. Good thing I carried along the tripod and remote.

Another pic of the 'perilous' trail while following behind Jenn. Although I joke about that, there were several spots where there was literally 3 to 4 feet between the barriers and a 500 ft + drop. I didn't take any photos there for fear of dropping the camera over the edge.

We took in the amazing view one last time before getting back on the bus.

Jenn and I with our windswept hair and wind burned faces on the tour bus. We were able to switch seats when we got back on, so I no longer had to sit by myself in the front. We let Andy sit infront of us with a cute girl from France.

The trip back towards Galway offered sweeping views of the coast. It was neat to have castle towers just pop up in the scenery. This tower belongs to the 16th century Doonagore Castle, near the town of Doolin. Since it is a private residence we couldn't tour it.

We did stop along the coast near Blackhead Point to walk around on the glacio-karst limestone formations. This area is supposedly one of the best locations to see this type of formation. We did not get to see any of the depressions in the area that you would expect for a karst formation, so that will have to be for another trip.

Joints in the limestone continue to be eroded by solutional processes. The fissures are called grykes and the flat rock areas between the fissures called clints.

Although there was no sand, the shoreline was beautiful.

One last pic of the two crazies I was traveling with before getting back on the bus.

I was lucky we were on the coast viewing side of the bus so I could get a photo of the Black Head lighthouse as we continued on.

I thought it was pretty funny to see a boat sitting on top of this groyne wall. The tides here have a huge differential. I am not sure what it actually is, but I would have to guess at least 10 feet.

More coastline scenery.

Ruins of a tower in Balleyvaughn.

There is more rock around this area than people know what to do with.

Tidal flats.

I was disappointed that we did not get to stop at the ruins of Corcomroe Abbey (my mom did when she visited in May). The structure was constructed around 1194 for Cisterne monks. The roof was reconstructed on one end (right end in this photo) to allow for present day church services.

A view of the coastline between Balleyvaughn and Kinvara.

Typical of most boats I saw a low tide (except for the one on the wall), this boat pretty much sat right on the tidal flat mud.

Arch remnant from a stone structure north of Kinvara.

Our last stop of the day was at Dungaire Castle. I slipped and slid on the moss-covered rocks over to this spot to get my quintessential Irish photo of the day.

Dungaire Castle was constructed in 1520 by the O'Hynes clan. The castle changed ownership numerous times before being restored by Olive St. Gogarty in the 1950s. The castle was the location for scenes in the 1979 film 'North Sea Hijack' (never heard of it), which starred Roger Moore. A development group now owns the castle, which hosts medieval themed banquets.

A 6'-4" tall Andy gives some scale to the height of the castle walls.

I found it interesting that there were dainty stained-glass windows in such a massive structure.

Wall surrounding the rear of the castle.

Our last photo of the tour. You are probably wondering what the heck Andy is doing. Funny enough, we didn't try getting a photo of the three of us until right before we were supposed to get back on the bus. We had to setup the camera a ways away in order to fit us and the whole castle in, even with the wide-angle lens. The camera was far back enough that it was out of remote range. We only had time to take two photos before the bus left us behind, and Andy didn't even make it to stand normally with Jenn and I before either photo snapped!