We left Dingle on Thursday, May 14 to head north to County Clare and Galway. On the way we stopped at the Blennerville to look at the windmill there.

We had booked the ferry from Tarbert to take us over the River Shannon but it was first come first served so it didn’t matter when we turned up. This time we did manage to get onto it without any mishaps, thank goodness, as it was a long way round by road!

We drove up to the Cliffs of Moher, one of the classic sites in Ireland. The car park is large and having paid our entrance fee of €6 each, we could also stay the night for free. It was still very windy and showery but the views were great. The experience centre was very eco friendly and unobtrusive, having been carved into the surrounding hills. Overall though, the Cliffs of Kerry were more impressive but not as well known. Back to the van to eat before wandering back there again for the sunset. It wasn’t as spectacular as we had hoped due to the cloud cover but still special, especially with so few people around at that time and having the O’Brien Tower almost to ourselves.

The next day was spent exploring The Burren in more detail. First stop was the Doolin Cave to see the largest stalactite in Europe at 7.3m. It was amazing but what was more impressive was the story of how two Bristol University students found it in 1952 by crawling through a small hole for two hours before emerging into the chamber. They hadn’t told anyone what they were doing or where they were going. Anything could have happened!

We then went onto the Aillwee Cave, which is a kilometre long cave that a farmer found in 1940 when he went after his dog who was chasing a rabbit. He kept it a secret until 1973. The cave is thought to be over a million years old and bear bones from 10,500 years ago have been found there.

On the same site they also had a Birds of Prey Centre where we saw various birds flying about. They were free flying so it made for great entertainment when they swooped over your head. the falcon was too quick for us to get a photo of flying!

Then we drove into The Burren National Park itself. Amazing landscape from the ice age when the Teutonic plates moved and Ireland moved from below the equator. It has a moon like appearance of stratified limestone, covering over 250 square kilometres. We walked one of the nature trails after visiting Poulnabrone Dolmen, a portal tomb dating back more than 5,000 years.

Once we had finished our walk, we decided to drive up to Galway City (on a Friday night). Luckily, we found an amazing park up behind the train station right in the centre of town. Completely chaotic parking with notices telling you that you’ll be clamped and no entry. We asked the parking attendants whether it was okay to stay overnight and they were very chilled about it. For €7.50 we had 24 hours parking minutes from bars and restaurants. (SfS: S50417S).

Miles since last blog: 183

Miles this trip: 1,272