After viewing the Cliffs of Moher from the ferry and hearing all about the path along their edge, we knew that we were going to have to check it out. You can drive up to and pay to park at the tourist vista and welcome center, or you can go a little bit further and follow a dirt road to a private parking lot and hike through some fields to the trail head. Either way, it is awesome, as long as you make sure to walk along the cliff line and enjoy the amazing views. Tread carefully though, the winds on the cliffs are extremely powerful (you can lean into them and not fall over) and suddenly reverse directions. This makes the edge extra treacherous because one minute you are fighting against the wind to see over the edge and the next you are fighting against it to not go over the edge. So beautiful. Honestly, the entire island is just gorgeous.
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| Not kidding about the winds |
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| Cliffs of Moher |
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| Cliffs of Moher |
After out nice wind-enhanced hike along the cliffs, we began our slow trek from Doolin to Cashel. We avoided the main roads for the most part, choosing the smaller roads to be able to maximize viewing the country greenery, castles, abbeys, and ruins along the way. They are E V E R Y W H E R E. We came across Clare Castle in Ennis and absolutely had to jump out o the car. There are no signs posted for it, no gates or regulations, just just pull of the road and walk around. Ireland really has not figured out how to take advantage of tourist dollars....which is fantastic for our travel frugality, but terrible for their economy.
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| Clare Castle |
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| Clare Castle |
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| Enjoying the beauty and fresh air, a moment to absorb all of this life's awesomeness |
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| Clare Castle |
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| Clare Castle |
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| Clare Castle |
We stopped in Newmarket on Fergus for a nice lunch of ham-baked cabbage and sliced of red cheddar. So Irish and so incredibly delicious! We then ventured out to our location for the next 2 nights, a 15th century castle in the countryside of Cashel. Unfortunately, we go there too late for pictures, but no worries, the next post will let you fall in love with all of its beauty.
We had dinner at the castle, cooked by Margaret, the wife of the owner, and it was A M A Z I N G. Seriously, I can see why John (the owner and husband) was complaining that she was the cause of his extra weight. If she was feeding me on a daily basis...well, I would be extraordinarily fat and extraordinarily happy. We had dinner in the great chamber, a traditional Irish meal of warmed salad with tomato and bacon, Cashel bleu cheese, potted beef and onions, buttered leeks, amazing roasted and whipped potatoes, followed by apple crumble with cranberries and almonds topped with the most delicious whipped vanilla ice cream with cinnamon. Afterwards, John and Margaret joined us in front of the fire to enjoy a bottle of wine and a few hours of wonderful conversation. I am going to talk more about this castle in the next post, but the take home message that I want to start here and reiterate, STAY HERE IF YOU EVER GO TO IRELAND! You simple cannot miss this place.
