The Cliffs of Moher (5/8)

Typical village - brightly painted, small shops,
cars parked facing any direction

Leaving Jeff behind with the dogs and the vans, the rest of us headed off for a walk along the Cliffs of Moher. We stopped off at Lahinch for supplies and a wander. It is a typical Irish village consisting of a series of narrow streets edged on both sides by narrow-fronted shops painted in any colour you can think of. And of course there were several pubs. As always there are several derelict places which probably haven't been touched since the great potato famine.

Looking for Napoleon

We left Sandie and her crook knee in the car and headed off aiming for a ruined tower on the cliff edge which was built in the Napoleonic era to signal in case of invasion

The view was spectacular, similar to the cliffs on the Great Australian Bight, but not as extensive. We only had a few minutes at the tower as we had a boat trip booked.  We could see where it would take us - the other end of the cliffs - as we could see a couple of the tour boats coming in

Tour boats under the cliffs.  Doolin in the background.

It started to drizzle as we boarded the boat and didn't really let up for much of the trip, but at least it was relatively calm. Ralph was sitting in the wrong position and copped the run-off from the roof of the cabin.  We went along the base of the cliffs and got in quite close them and to a sea stack as well. It was very atmospheric as there was a lot of cloud rolling over the tops of the cliffs.  The cliffs (over 210 metres high) of layers of black shale and sandstone towered above us. There were many seabirds roosting on the cliffs, but we didn't see the puffins which Jill was especially looking out for.

Cloud falling over the cliffs

Sea stack and sea birds

The next morning my run took me out along the cliffs from the camp at sea level so I got a good workout running up the steep path. I passed a tent pitched on one of the headlands – they were very exposed to any weather, but the view was spectacular!

Interesting campsite (running track off to the left - not along the rocks!)