H is for Heritage: a long past Irish history

Next stop in our quest for Ireland’s history was 12thC Irish High Crosses and the fine example of the ‘Doorty’ Cross in the village of Kilfenora on the southern fringes of the Burren.

We then headed for the stone heritage monuments just off the R480, the 5000-year-old Poulnabrone Dolmen. It is a portal tomb (reminds me, looking forward to season 2 of Outlander!) and a dramatic abstract scene.  The stones of the dolmen seem elegant and timeless on their raised mound above the karst.

Poulnabrone Dolmen

T is for a Tower House: Dunguaire Castle, Kinvara.

Kinvara from the top of Dunguaire Castle.

 

Tower Houses dot the landscape here in the west of Ireland and the well-preserved Dunguaire Castle, built in 1520, was our first stop in County Clare. 

The setting looking out over Kinvara and Galway Bay is so lovely particularly in the sun shine  and I could see why it is one of the most photographed places in Ireland.

And we add our photos too.

W is for Wild Atlantic Way: road tripping in northwest County Clare

Fascinating erratics 

Beauty of a limestone wall.

 A day out, touring the Wild Atlantic Way in County Clare.

Wild beauty indeed of the limestone mountain scenery of The Burren and Corkscrew Hill, to Murrooght with its limestone pavements dotted with erratic’s, and the constant backdrop of the restless Atlantic Ocean.

By the time we got to the Cliffs of Moher, the weather we has seen coming over the Aran Islands enveloped the cliffs in a blanket of cloud and rain was threatening. We had had a glimpse, started out to walk but sanity prevailed and we made our way back home.

Limestone pavement

View from Corkscrew Hill.

"In every land, hardness is in the north of it, softens in the south, industry in the east, and fire and inspiration in the west."

P is for Peninsula: "An Cheathru Rua" Peninsula

A renovators dream! 

The lads, route finding with success - mostly. Signs make it harder not easier!

We have rented a house on the An Cheathru Rua Peninsula, a Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking) area on the coast of Galway Bay and a rugged corner of Ireland. There is an old world atmosphere here except for all the new bungalow style houses built during the Irish boom times, some which blend in well but others can be an eyesore.

Stonewalls crisscross the undulating fern hills, rocky countryside, with bogs and the heather adding colour among all the greens. It is a cool, overcast day and good for a long walk so we headed out with Tra an Doilin as our destination – the Coral Beach. It is a rather unusual beach made up of red coralline algae, washed up from the bay, which has dried and hardened.

Ireland walking.

Winston Churchill: "We have always found the Irish a bit odd. They refuse to be English."

I is for Ireland: a first sunrise

Carraroe, early morning over Galway Bay and Atlantic Ocean

There is nothing quite like waking up with a sense of anticipation - a new place, a new country, a new adventure. 

We are in Ireland, my first visit.

So we were up at sunrise, walking and taking in our environment. 

And it is quite lovely indeed. 

We are here in an historic time too as captured by W B Yeats:

Quote from "Easter 1916": 

Now and in time to be,

Wherever green is worn,

Are changed, changed utterly:

A terrible beauty is born.