We started out the day in Dingle, leaving after breakfast and heading up the coast to Doolin and the Cliffs of Moher. Here is the route we took to give an idea of its general location.
We cut across the Dingle Penninsula through Conor pass. I think we missed some really spectacular stuff because of the weather, but saw some beautiful scenery, in spite of it being a soft day.
From there, we headed north and crossed the Shannon River by Ferry.
We visited a spot called Loop Head with a lighthouse and a neat cliff walk.
The picture below with the big E in rocks is one of about 85 spots in Ireland where the Irish spelled out EIRE . It was intended to let German and other bombers know that they were over neutral Ireland during WW2. Many were numbered and once the locations were shared with the allies, they were actually used by allied airman on missions for navigation.
Here is the layout of many of the locations. It was not believed that there were many on the east coast, but a recent fire on the east coast of Ireland at Bray Head burned away a lot of the scrub and a new one was found.
Here is is a shot that better shows the head, Cliffs and the entire “EIRE”. Not my pic
After our time at Loop Head, we “headed” to The Cliffs of Kilkee for a picnic lunch:
Our driver and guide Joe said people fish from the rocks and we saw some guys unloading some fishing gear and we headed out toward the water. When we reached the end of the path, I expected to see a trail down to the water where the people would fish from the rocks. Instead, we found guys casting from the tops of the cliffs which are 75 feet above the water. It was a LONG way down. It took a long time for them to retrieve each cast.
We saw them pulling up some mackerel on what looked like big sibiki rigs. Here are a couple on non-trip pics to give you a better idea:
They got pretty darn close to the edge as they made their casts and it was windy. I found an article on-line where an angler died a couple years ago fishing in this same spot when he fell trying to unsnag his line.
We we finished the day at the Cliffs of Moher. Wow! It was foggy so not the best shots but you still had a great view of an awesome area. I was nervous about walking to the edge of the 75 foot cliffs at Kilkee. The Cliffs at Moher are up to 702 feet and again no railing and the trails lead right up to the cliff edge.
If you look carefully at the shot below at the first cliff from the right, you can see someone standing alone right on the edge of the point and it gives you some perspective on the size:
You might have to zoom in to see them.
I finally got up my nerve to stand on one foot and tangle my other foot over the edge:
Maybe tomorrow I will get even more daring….
Tampaskis Travel 