IRELAND, DAY 5: CLIFFS OF MOHER

 July 8, 2024

A 2.25 hour drive got us from our hotel in Castleisland to the Cliffs of Moher, the #2 attraction in Ireland after the #1 Guiness Brewery Tour (which was not on our itinerary). In 2022, the Cliffs got about 1.1 million visitors, 41% of whom were from the United States.

There are two ways to see the cliffs: tourists can 1) walk along the top of the cliffs, or 2) take a sightseeing cruise. We thought we'd see more from the water than from the top, so before we left home, Bob purchased tickets (€26 each) for a boat tour. 

While we waited to board the boat, we walked around on the shore. Rather than sand, there was a rocky surface with interesting cracks filled with tiny flowers.

We boarded at about 11:45 and departed at noon for a "drive by" that took about 50 minutes.

The Cliffs of Moher run for about nine miles and rise between 390 feet and 702 feet above the ocean. At first we weren't very impressed. The cliffs were in shadow and we were very far away from them as we motored the nine miles to the far end. 

Here is a photo that I tried to edit to show the cliff details.

Near the end of the five miles is a formation called "Hag's Head." That round knob in the photo below supposedly looks like an old woman's head looking out to sea.

Here is the best I can do with a zoom-in. Can you see her? 

From Wikipedia: "A local legend relates how an old hag or sea-witch, Mal of Malbay, fell in love with the Irish hero, Cú Chulainn and chased her would-be suitor across Ireland. Cú Chulainn escaped by hopping across sea stacks as if they were stepping stones. Mal, however, not being so nimble lost her footing and was dashed against the rocks."

The structure to the left and above the Hag's Head is O'Brien's Tower, the highest point on the Cliffs. It was built in 1835 by a local official named Sir Cornelius O'Brien as an observation tower for English tourists.  In a zoom-in view, you can kind of see the stone wall surrounding the tower.

A sea arch created by wave erosion can be seen at the far end of the cliffs.

Close up:

On the return trip we were closer to the cliffs and had a better view, but the light was still not in our favor.

That crack in the center of the cliff is actually a cave where a scene from Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince was filmed.

The relevant part begins at about 1:20 in this clip:

The boat had a few empty seats, so we could move around for different views. 

 

There is no question that the cliffs are a wonder of geology--massive, vertical, and etched by eons of time.

 

Still, we are surprised that this is the second most-visited site in Ireland. We would put many of the places we went to ahead of the Cliffs of Moher, including both the Dingle Peninsula and Ring of Kerry Drives. Maybe we would have had a better experience if we had walked along the top after all.

We got back on the road, headed towards the Killary Sheep Farm, a 2 to 2 1/2 hour drive, where we planned to shear sheep, feed baby lambs, and watch a sheep dog demonstration. However, about an hour into the drive, our little Renault Clio lost power and would not accelerate beyond 70 km/hr, which is maybe 40 mph. We pulled over and called Budget, from whom we had rented the car. They said we could either try to drive it to the nearest Budget rental office or wait for someone to come get us. At the very least we should try to drive into town and find a parking lot rather than stay parked on the side of the road. Luckily, we were 20 minutes from Galway, where Budget had an office.  Bob decided to see how far we could get, and we made it to Galway, where we were given a much newer, nicer, larger car.

Unfortunately, however, the car issues took a couple of hours to resolve and we had to cancel our personal tour of the sheep farm. 😢  When we were finally ready to get back on the road, we headed toward our next destination of Sligo.

Just a few fun things about driving around in Ireland.  See that letter "N" in the back window of the car in front of us? 

That stands for "New Driver" (or "Novice") and must remain on both the front and back of the vehicle for TWO YEARS after a person receives their first driver's license. It is there as a warning to other drivers, or maybe as a way of encouraging patience if the new driver is not perfect. Before a driver has a license and when they are in the process of learning to drive and obtain a permit, they must display an "L" for "Learning" in the window. What a terrific idea!

Here is another fun Irish oddity. Milk comes in plastic cartons that look a lot like our gallon cartons, but they contain 500 ml or about 1 pint. They are itty-bitty and very cute.