Cliffs of Mohr and Doolin

The weather Sunday morning was less than inspiring. I had a tour to the cliffs and the first bus driver did not seem convinced we would see anything.  :(

When we got to the bus station, Mick D, the driver from the tour on Friday came on board, spotted and got me put on his bus. And I got the best seat in the bus - the one at the very front next to the driver, usually used by the tour guide! The view from the front window was great. (I was also first off the bus but unfortunately had to be the last on. It was a very cold day!) It did lead to some confusion at the beginning as people thought I was the guide. And I knew nothing! 

The first stop was Dunguaire Castle. The fog made for some very mysterious and dramatic photos.

Through the fog

Dunguaire castle

Frosty

Castle up close

fog on the water

Irish cottage

Susie the sheep, bus mascot

Thankfully the weather cleared up and for the rest of the day we had clear skies. The temperature didn't improve much but at least it was sunny.

Fog clearing.

The next stop was Poulnabrone Dolmen, a portal tomb. This was is over 5000 years old (old than the pyramids). It was the final resting place of the bones  of the people in the area. They found the bones of 33 people in there when they excavated.

Dolmen

We also stopped at Kilfenora Cathedral and the 7 high crosses. Most of these have been lost (mainly due to weather erosion) but these have been saved and are stored under a perspex roof. They are from around the sixth century I think.

In Ireland, if a woman got to 25 and was still unmarried, her parents would turn to a match-maker to get her gone. There is still a match match-maker here and in September they have a month long (well 6 weeks which apparently a month in Ireland) festival of love, where singles from all over come in the hope of finding love.

We stopped off at Doolan for lunch. The pub and food was very nice but a bit busy. There wasn't much to see there but there is a fabulous chocolate shop. I brought some amazing rocky road and some orange and dark chocolate fudge. None of it survived to leave Ireland. 

The main stop of the day was the Cliffs of Mohr. They have been used in the Princess Bride and one of the Harry Potter films. They are all very dramatic. 

These were everywhere and made it more dramatic!

The cliffs

You can walk along the cliffs in either direction. To the right is O'Brien's Tower on Hag's Head. You can pay to go up but the view is pretty good from the ground so I didn't bother. 

Looking to O'Brien's Tower

The tower.

View from in front of the tower

The stack

Sunset

The last stop was at the Mini-cliffs (it's real name) just in time to catch the last of the sunset.

Mick dropped me back at my hotel (which was on the way to the station anyway). I had some time to relax and warm up again before back out and into town for a meal at a lovely little restaurant called Tosnu. If anyone is in the area, it is worth it and will be hard to get a reservation at before long. The meal was lovely.