The Cliffs of Moher are a landmark of Ireland's rugged west coast - yet Geoffs only knowledge of them was that they had been used for a Westlife music video! While on the Burran, Karl Hughes had suggested we walk the Cliffs of Moher from Doolin, instead of driving to the usual tourist spot.
Allan had driven through the evening to meet us in Doolin on Monday night as we were finishing up a particularly lively trad (traditional music) session in a nearby pub. Consequently he was rudely rolled out of bed and dressed in time for Karl's arrival.
Karl's local knowledge was invaluable as we worked our way along the cliffs. We found blowholes, sea caves, local swim spots and some fascinating rock formations.
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| One of the larger sea caves that we saw. Amazing rock formations on the left. |
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| A steep grassy slope down to the rocks and sea! |
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| Our first viewpoint giving us an amazing view of the Cliffs. Sea birds swirling above and below us. |
Karl also has enormous faith in grass as a climbing aid - quite reminiscent of climbing in the Drakensberg. In order to find some of the most exposed and dramatic view points we had to cut up and down beautifully exposed slopes - Geoff was in his element. Allan feigned being squeamish until we pointed out the sheep wool on nearby thistles showing that a sheep had managed it too!
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| A VERY steep scramble up from just above the sea with only dodgy grass handholds. Note the wool on the fence. |
The cliffs are incredibly dramatic with layers of black shale and lighter sandstone reaching up to 700ft out of the water. They are topped by a thin layer of soil with bright green grass and pink flowers while the sea is bright blue below.
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| Karl's path was at times right on the edge!!! |
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| The cliffs of Moher. |
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| A beautiful lunch spot. |
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| That's flipping high! - Lucy struggled to look. |
A huge thank you to Karl for taking the time out to show us his version of the amazing Cliffs of Moher. Having seen the touristy parts there is clearly no comparison and we had a great time.
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| Gnoming around - Karl and Geoff |
Again, so great to see spots where we had been sitting less than a year ago. We did the same walk to the cliffs rather than the touristy entrance and it was so much more rewarding. Well done for going all the way from doolin though. Really impressive. Did you see the little monument to the climber that fell from the cliffs a few years ago? Very creative use of climbing equipment.
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