West Coast of Ireland: Moher or Less

Day 186, Friday, July 27, 2019

“If by a “Liberal” they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people-their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights and their civil liberties-someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a “Liberal”, then I’m proud to say I’m a “Liberal.”

― John F. Kennedy, Profiles in Courage

Sites Covered in this Post
• Bunratty Castle
• Cliffs of Moher

Lesson Learned:  Today…….we slept in the 44^th bed of our trip. In the past 6 months or 186 days we’ve pulled the covers up on 44 beds, or 1 bed every 4.2 days. Now, we’ve had some good beds, the best being at the Les Pins de Cesar Spa outside Les Havre, France. The worst, was at Delphi in a little hotel that was so bad I can’t even recall its name. I couldn’t even find it when searching on Booking.com, maybe it closed.

No matter what your accommodations, if the bed stinks, so does your stay. We only paid $32 a night, so I guess you get what you pay for, but for $45 our stay would have been so much more enjoyable. Delphi is definitely a spot you don’t want to skip.

Bunratty Castle

This castle was right on our way to the Cliffs of Moher so we thought we’d stop on by. I think Ellen’s exact words were “Oh, great, another castle”. Bunratty Castle, which means “Castle at the Mouth of the Ratty” (river) is a large 15th-century tower house in County Clare. Apparently, the first castle here was wood, built in 1251 and replaced in 1276. Attacked and destroyed in 1284; re-built in 1287, attacked and destroyed in 1318; re-built in 1353, attacked and destroyed in 1355; re-built in 1425 and still stands.

We were underwhelmed. Today the castle and surrounding village is sort of the Irish version of Colonial Williamsburg. Its campy, and pricey so we took a pic and then went on our way.

Cliffs of Moher

If you read any guide of Ireland they’ll all recommend visiting the Cliffs of Moher, and with good reason. The Cliffs of Moher are a stretch of magnificent sea cliffs in County Clare (the counties in Ireland rival West Texas counties around Marfa in regards to size). They rise out of the sea and run for about 14 kilometers until the shrink back down to sea level. At their southern end, they rise 120 meters (390 ft) at Hag’s Head, and, eight kilometers to the north, they soar to their maximum height of 214 meters (702 ft) north of O’Brien’s Tower, which is  a round stone tower near the midpoint of the cliffs, built in 1835 by Sir Cornelius O’Brien for no apparent reason.  

The cliffs are beautiful, and jam packed with tourists. They are out in the middle of Bum Fuck Ireland (BFI) and we got stuck in a half hour traffic jam just to get to the parking lot. Once there, there were so many people on the cliffs I honestly was afraid someone might get bumped over the edge. Seriously, there are no guard rails. The cattle grazing along the park are held back by electric fencing, but the tour bus gawkers are there at their own risk.

 From the cliffs, you can see the Aran Islands, the Maumturks and Twelve Pins mountain ranges to the north in County Galway, and Loop Head to the south. The tourist department claims the cliffs rank among the most visited tourist sites in Ireland, with around 1.5 million visits per year. I think most of them were there on the Saturday we visited.

The cliffs take their name from an old fort called Mothar or Moher, which once stood on Hag’s Head on the southernmost point of the cliffs, now the site of Moher Tower. The fort was demolished in 1808 to provide material for a lookout/telegraph tower that was intended to provide warning in case of a French invasion during the Napoleonic wars.

If you feel like a hike you jump off to the official Cliffs of Moher Coastal Walk which runs for 18 km, a lot of it uphill from Hag’s Head to Doolin, passing the Visitor Center and O’Brien’s Tower. You might reconsider this option in the event of rain or fog.

We chose the easier option to see the cliffs, entering at the visitor center, the official one being set back a little for safety behind a sandstone barrier (but nobody stays back there), while an unofficial path runs along  the edge.

The next morning after walking the cliffs we took a tour boat for a one hour cruise at the base of Moher. It’s a great way to see the scale of these formations, sea birds, have a nice boat ride, and even the Harry Potter cave (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)). One of the most impressive formations is Branaunmore, a 67-meter high sea stack at the foot of the cliffs. It was once part of the cliffs, but coastal erosion gradually removed the layers of rock that joined it with the mainland. A large sea arch can also be seen at Hag’s Head below the Napoleonic signal tower and many smaller sea arches can be seen from the tour boats. Many people take the half or full day voyages out to the Aran Islands, but we passed on this opportunity since those type trips can trap you and may prove to be a waste of time. We prefer scheduled departures so we can spend a lot of time on an island, or get the hell out of Dodge if you don’t like the destination. We want to manage our schedules, not be managed.

You can sit for hours just watching the sea birds around here. They can be amazing soaring on the thermals in front of the cliffs. Over 30,000 pairs of nesting seabirds can be found here in the nesting season (mostly March to August). So, what kinds of birds? Puffins, Fulmars, Kittiwakes, Guillemots, Razorbills, Shags and some are here year-round, like Peregrine Falcons, Choughs, and Ravens. We looked for the Puffins, but didn’t have binoculars and couldn’t spot them.

I agree with the tourist touts. If you are coming to Ireland, the Cliffs of Moher need to be on your to-do list. Be sure to make advance reservations, these places fill up quickly. There are multiple hotels, loads of BNBs/Guest Houses, camp grounds, and hostels. We stayed in a small village. So small, it had more pubs (2) than it did stop signs (1). We had a half block walk to one of the pubs, which had surprisingly good food (and great beer), and was a 15 minute walk to the ferry landing. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a view of the cliffs, but it was comfortable and convenient. Go, enjoy, chill!