More Cliffs of Moher Please

The cottage to the right of the yellow door cottage is our home for four nights. In front of the road is a small ocean inlet.

A perfect abandoned haunted house

We took a walk down the dead end road that ended
in a small wharf where two heavily bundled
fishermen were fishing in the wind. Another
couple of fishermen were untangling miles of
line used for their traps.

The parking lot across from the Cliffs of Moher is large and crowded. The Cliffs are the most visited tourist site in all of Ireland. While we bundled up against the wind, flocks of crows gathered, fighting after a crumb Keith threw them. I felt like I saw a million crows in Ireland and England. They were everywhere, swooping in dark circles in the sky, hopping along the ground. Survivors.

My first sight of the cliffs kind of took my breath away, either that or it was the 50 mph wind gusts.

My bearded man still takes my breath away too.

The whole time I was eating up the beautiful scenery, my hair was lashing my face like a million tiny whips. It was still worth it.

There are fences and barriers along quite a stretch of the Cliffs, but they eventually end and you can travel at your own risk along dirt paths that are dizzyingly close to sheer and certain death. With the gusty wind, this is somewhat thrilling.

Even though we were traveling at the end of September, there were still a lot of people there. I can't even imagine what it is like at peak season during the summer months.

We found a large shelf of rock where you can actually sit and dangle your legs over the infinity edge if you want. I didn't dare to dangle.

The young man in back of me first did yoga and then took a wee with his back to us. I think this certifies him as a truly natural man, and a jerk.

Traveling with Keith Brook is rather wonderful. He is an avid researcher and planner, mapping out sites to see that we all love. He has a deep historical knowledge of many countries and eats an average of one ice cream per day while on holiday...a great guy to travel with.

This fence is covered with hair ties. They probably all blew off in the constant gale.

Keith Kennedy showed us this bright little gold beetle. I had never seen one and wanted to wear it like a necklace. It was beautiful. 

As we traveled down the hill from the Cliffs of Moher and into the little town of Doolin, we passed this old tower. It had modern windows installed and it looks like someone lives there. How cool is that?

The Cliffs of Moher are featured in Harry Potter's Half Blood Prince movie. The sea cave isn't a real place but was recreated in a studio, so I'm not sure where this tour would have gone but I would have loved to try it!

We ate a great meal in the Ivy Cottage and the free wifi was a bonus.

Every corner of Ireland is beautiful. Every turn in the road made me happy to be alive.

We had a fireplace in our cottage and bought peat to make a fire. We got it started with some small sticks of wood, but the peat burned warm and long. I was so excited to have a real peat fire of our very own! It has quite a distinctive smell, not unpleasant, more like coal than wood. 

That evening as we sat around the fire, we discussed what sites we were going to see in a few days...our last full day in Ireland while driving back to Dublin. Since peat grows in bogs, we found a place in a little town with the beautiful name of Lullymore called "The Bog of Allen". We spent an hour making jokes about it. "Bog" is a nickname for toilet and so the descriptions of the carnivorous plants and wild atmosphere that could be found at "The Bog of Allen" had us laughing like 5th graders for a couple of hours. As Keith Kennedy so drolly put it, "Even if we go visit the bog of Allen, Allen just might not be available."  This is why its so fun to travel with the Brooks and the Kennedys. 😂😂😂