Ireland #16 The Cliffs of Moher

The Cliffs of Moher 

is another favorite place in Ireland.

Not just for us, but for many and we had

to take the 

Celtic Adventurers 

to the cliffs.

So with a bit of sadness we left our favorite

B & B and were on our way to view 

cliffs that drop 702 feet at their highest point

and stretch for 5 miles along the coast of 

western Ireland.

It was a cloudy day, but we could still view the cliffs.

There are times that it is very foggy and

 you can barely see the cliffs.

We have always been fortunate to be able to see them.

Here is the picture that my husband took on our first

trip to Ireland which he still sells.

Had to have a selfie of the 2 of us with the cliffs in the background.

Another view.

A picture that Dave took of our group.

It was extremely windy!

As you can see here, poor Roxie was having 

a bit of trouble with her hair.

Here are Jane and Michael.

Not so much trouble with their hair.  LOL!

This time, we let someone else take a picture for us.

A look in another direction.

This is O'Brien's Tower.

This was built by Cornelius O'Brien in 1835.

He was ahead of his time, believing that tourism

would benefit the local economy ans bring the people out of poverty.

This tower was built for the purpose of viewing the surrounding 

area by tourists. From this tower you can see for miles on

a clear day. I'm guessing ole Cornelius knew what he 

was doing.  While we were at the cliffs, there were 

thousands of others there too.

Here is a view looking down toward one of the beaches.

That small pointed "rock" is separate 

from the rest of the cliffs.

The waves crashing against it are quite remarkable.

Another selfie.

When we were at the cliffs the last time (about 10 yrs ago)

there may have been some warning signs like this one,

but there weren't as many walls blocking the cliffs.

I didn't get a picture of the area, but there is a large flat area 

of rock that goes right to the cliffs edge.

There are slate walls blocking the area and much of the cliffs

off from access.  When we were here last, these areas

were not blocked off.  In fact my husband and the kids laid down

on their bellies and scooted up to the edge to look over.

I was to afraid of heights to do it, it made me nervous just watching.

At that time there were also groups of kids that were running along

the walkways that were a matter of feet from the cliff edges.

AND there were no walls or guard rails.

I'm so glad they put some up.

You can do quite a bit of walking at the cliffs and

I wasn't up for too much.  I did what I could

and then went to the visitors center to wait for the 

others to come back.

Here's a selfie with a very cool wood sculpture

outside the center.

And the sculpture without me blocking it.

There is so much in this sculpture about the area,

I wish I would have taken more pictures showing more detail,

but there were others waiting to take their own selfies.

I was so glad that I had come back to the center.

I sat and people watched for a while, then the sky started to

look ominous.

I found a spot to stand near a door with an overhang and 

shot a bit of video.

If you watch it, you can see the waves of rain coming across.

It blew in very quickly, it was over cast and a few minutes later

the skies were turning a very dark gray.

Dave and Jane had continued out along the cliffs

to take pictures of the rain coming in.

The others had come back to the visitors center.

Guess it was pretty wild out there near the cliffs.

It cleared up pretty quick and we were off to our next

adventure.  Luckily the skies cleared pretty well

as we drove on to Doolin where we ate by the roadside.

It was pretty cold out there, so I ended up wrapped in a blanket 

in the car for my lunch.
Here are some pictures that I took along the drive.

Here are the cliffs from a distance.

Jane and Roxie at our lunch spot

After lunch we were off to The Burren.

The Burren literally means rocky place and that is

so fitting for this area.
This is one of only 2 pictures I took,

the entire area looks pretty much the same.

All "limestone pavement" for miles and miles.

There is very little soil in The Burren, but where 

there is soil it is very fertile.

I do wish I had taken a couple pictures of the mountains,

just to show you. They are literally mountains

of rock like what is in this picture.

Once we were through The Burren,

we were off to Galway.

More about that in my next post

"On to Galway"