Binoculars in the Backcountry

Friday, June 17, 2022

Ireland - The Burren and Cliffs of Moher

At the Cliffs of Moher

The next leg of our trip took us to a couple of the iconic places in Ireland - the Cliffs of Moher and The Burren. The Cliffs are on the west coast between the villages of Doolin and Liscannor. There is a 8 mile trail along the top of the 400-500 foot tall cliffs affording incredible views. We started in the south on the part of trail with fewer tourists. We walked north until we got too close to where all the tourist buses go. When the sea of humanity got too much for us we turned around. Not a problem though as the best part of the trail is the part we did.

Marsh Orchid

The Burren, including Burren National Park, takes some time to explore. In this glaciated karst (limestone) landscape are grasslands, limestone pavement, cliffs, scrub woodlands, ponds, and more. The scenery is incredible, and because we went in the spring the wildflowers were amazing. We did several hikes in The Burren and could easily have spent more time if we had it.

Bloody Crane's-Bill

Mountain Avens

Orchid

Early Marsh-Orchid

Carpet Bugle

Spring Gentian

Poulnabrone Dolmen, a 5000+ year old neolithic portal tomb in The Burren

Poulnabrone Dolmen

Spring Gentian

Mountain Avens

Bird's-foot Tefoil

The Irish have been building rock fences for over 5000 years

Bloody Crane's-Bill

Marsh Marigold

Guelder-Rose

As we drove south to our next destination, we just had to stop for one more cliff walk at Kilkee.

The little pink flower is Sea Thrift

Monday, June 13, 2022

Ireland - Boyne Valley

Trim Castle

This trip was a long time coming. Originally planned for May 2020, the pandemic had other ideas for us. When May of 2022 looked better, we simplified our trip planning and went for it. We kept the trip to three major destinations - Boyne Valley, The Burren, and the Dingle Peninsula - with plenty of time in each to explore. I'll break the blog posts up with one for each of the regions.

The Boyne Valley is only an hour north of Dublin and has much to offer. Of particular interest for us in this area were the Megalithic and early Christian ruins. The Megalithic sites, like Newgrange, date back 5000 or more years. The early Christian sites go back to at least the 10th century. For all of us it was our first trip to anywhere in Europe, so seeing these ancient sites was fascinating.