Sunday, March 9, 2008

The Burren - Ireland part I

Back from Ireland.

Our first stop was the Burren is a rocky, cliffy part of Ireland's west coast.

















These fences wind everywhere. They gotta put the rocks somewhere, I guess.












The nice thing about them is that it makes it easy to herd the cows. Our second day in the area, we took a hike along an ancient road that is still used by farmers. We had to pause occasionally to wait for the traffic to clear.
















The most popular spot in the Burren is the Cliffs of Moher. It's crowded, but beautiful.



Here's Bettie and the view south from the main tourist view from the cliffs.











Look behind her. That's the way to escape the crowds. Choose a windy day, then hike five miles beyond the large, wordy signs that basically say, Don't Do It. The first half was just scary. I was crawling. My advice, Don't Do It.

But Bettie liked it. This is her foot and a 230-meter drop to the ocean. Maybe not 230 meters, that's the highest point and it's further north. We'll go conservative and say 500 feet.










Look a few feet to her left and you'll see me, clinging to the rock walls that keep the cows out of the ocean. The last half of the hike, pictured below, wasn't quite as bad. The wind mellowed a little and I got to enjoy some of it.



At the tower in the distance, we headed inland and walked along country roads to the car. That's what kept me moving, knowing it was a one-way trip.









Hey Bryce. Look behind you.











5 comments:

angryyoungwoman said...

Welcome home! Nice hat. I dig yer pics. I hope you had loads of fun. I had lots of adventures here in Idaho, too.

Bettie said...

Of all the places we went, I do think that the cliffs may have been my favorite...at least that's what I've been telling people so far. It wasn't as memorable as our anniversary, but it was a nice, sunny, windy, fun day for a hike. Thanks!

Bryce Jr said...

Thanks Hilary. It's a Russian hat from my sister, Amber. She was in Moscow (or St. Petersburg) and bought one of those Ushanka hats (with the ear flaps) for my dad, and then the guy threw in this hat for free. She thinks maybe she overpaid for the first hat and his conscience got the better of him. It's super warm.

Bryce Jr said...

Unless you were talking about Bettie's. She bought that hat from the town nearest the Cliffs, just for the trip. It's a pretty sweet hat. Also very warm, and hand-woven from the wool of a few of the thousands of sheep we saw roaming the Irish countryside.

angryyoungwoman said...

I like everybody's hats. Everyone has nice hats.