(Galway, Co. Galway, Ireland)
On June 3, I signed up for a day tour of “The Burren” and the Cliffs of Moher in County Clare. My main motivation was the advertised hike in The Burren, but I also had heard about the Cliffs of Moher and figured I might as well see those too.
The Burren is an incredibly rocky landscape that resembles the stonier parts of Inis Mór. The hike in The Burren took barely an hour and probably only half of that was actually on the move. I had been hoping to at least climb to the top of the mountain but the group size and time constraints extinguished that dream. The walk was fine, and it was nice to walk on the bizarre-looking rocks, but my inner mountain goat was somewhat disappointed. I began to wonder about how much we could explore the Cliffs of Moher.
First, however, there was an intermediate stop at a neolithic burial tomb called the Poulnabrone Dolmen. It wasn’t big, but then again it was older than the Egyptian Pyramids. Nearly 30 people were buried here. This was at a time when 30 years was considered a long life.
It was now well after 1:00 p.m. and I was getting restless. Finally, we arrived at the Cliffs of Moher and were told to return in 90 minutes. My inner mountain goat was finally free! I took the tour leader’s advice and headed north along the coast. The initial views were very impressive, but it felt a little “sanitized” with protective walls some distance from the edges of the cliffs. These cliffs were more than 200m (more than 2 football fields) high and plunged directly into the Atlantic Ocean.
However, after about 10 minutes, the cliff-top trail passed onto private property and the restraining barriers disappeared. There were now two choices: a mostly gravel path that was well away from the edge, and another rougher path closer to the edge and slightly elevated for better viewing. I did a comprehensive risk analysis, noting that the people ahead of me were successfully walking on the elevated route, and proceeded along the “riskier” path.
Almost immediately, I felt like I was back at Dun Aonghosa on Inis Mór, except that the Cliffs of Moher were twice as high! And yet, somehow, I felt more comfortable here. It was the same kind of exhilaration that I feel on the top of mountains. Any disappointment with The Burren walk was now forgotten. Looking at the Cliffs of Moher photos afterwards, however, I felt retroactively scared.
And then there are the people who seem to be missing the “caution gene”. I kept thinking that some primitive, prehistoric part of my brain was preventing me from getting closer to the edge. Although I have little experience with cliffs, I received a very strong message to go no closer than I did. So why didn’t these other people get that message?
Well, after all of that excitement, it was anticlimactic to visit a site north of Doolin that had smaller (but still large) drop-offs into the sea. I took some pictures but I think I had already reached my “gobsmacked quota” for the day. Similarly, our final stop at the imposing Dunguaire Castle didn’t have as much impact as it otherwise might have.
My day trips to Inis Mór and the Burren/Cliffs of Moher were full of natural “wow” moments and close encounters with prehistoric human brains (both mine and those of others). I’m also told that my two consecutive days of dry weather are quite unusual for Ireland. It’s now time for some city exploration and, hopefully, an end to my international vinyl record buying drought.
