Biking through County Clare

12-13 April 2009

Biking through County Clare

We awoke early on Sunday morning to catch our train up to Ennis in County Clare, another few hours north of where we slept in Tralee. Although it was earlier than the posted hostel breakfast time, the nice guy who worked reception (and chatted me up about his diabetes the night before) told us where the key to the kitchen was hidden and said to help ourselves to cereal and toast. After filling our stomachs, we high-tailed it to the train station and settled in. Before Ennis, we had to make two transfers, one at Limerick Junction and the other at Limerick. The town of Limerick goes by the nickname of “Stab City” because it is one of the most dangerous in all of the Republic of Ireland. I have been reading the book, “Angela’s Ashes” while here in Ireland (I highly recommend it) and that also takes place in Limerick and certainly doesn’t paint the prettiest picture of the city either. So that being said, we didn’t venture out of the train station during our 45 minute “layover” before going to Ennis. The majority of the other train passengers were predominantly male and wearing red & blue jerseys. It certainly appeared that a game was going on in Limerick today. After disembarking the train, we headed to the pub in the station and I got in the queue to order a little breakfast croissant. An older man behind me in line looked familiar from the train and he said to me in a cheery voice, “Hello lady sitting across from me on the train!” He said, “You aren’t from around here, are you?” To which, of course, I answered, “No” and told him I was from New Jersey. He said, “Ah! New Jersey! Frank Sinatra, Hoboken!” I said, “Yes, in fact I lived in Hoboken!” He turned to his friends behind him and said, “She’s from Hoboken!” He went on to tell me that they were all there in Limerick for a rugby game, Ireland vs. an English team. Whenever we say we are from NJ, there is surely an Irish person that knows someone there. I guess with all of the immigration to the east coast of the US it isn’t surprising!

Soon enough we are in Ennis and from there we have to take a train another hours or 2 up to a tiny town called Doolin. Doolin is on the coast of County Clare and about 12km from the famous Cliffs of Moher which is really the reason we are going up there at all. The sun came out as we were on the bus and it looked like a beautiful day as well as gorgeous country all around us. The bus stop in Doolin was conveniently located directly across the street from the hostel we had booked, called Rainbow Hostel. Ryan looked at me and said, “We are in the middle of nowhere!” There were a few homes and B&B’s but otherwise just green hills and farms as far as the eye could see. We checked into our hostel. It was a family run establishment and we met the dad, Mattie, who showed us to a brightly painted 6-person room. The wife was next door running B&B in the main house and the sons were helping to hang laundry out to dry in the backyard. Mattie rented us two bikes at €7 each for the day and gave us a map of the area. There were ruins scattered all over, some of them ancient, some just old buildings and churches. He said he would be conducting a sunset walking tour along the coast and explaining the history of the area as well as the local fauna and flora. We said we’d like to be there but had to see what time we returned from visiting the Cliffs of Moher.

The sky was bright blue and the sun was blazing and we were happy to be there in this beautiful country! We rode our bikes just down the street to visit the ruins of a church that was viewable from our hostel. There was a rock wall encircling the church grounds and within it were many Celtic crosses and old tombstones mostly from the 1700s and 1800s. The church walls were mostly left but no roof. Everything was overgrown by grasses and vegetation and it was beautiful!! After that, we rode our bikes a bit further down the country road where I nearly got chased off my bike by a scary looking dog, and parked close to the coastline.

This area of County Clare is called The Burren though I think “barren” would be a better term as many of the mountain and hillsides are bare with only limestone rocks covering the surfaces. It is also littered with abandoned famine towns and buildings and megalithic remains from thousands of years ago. In Doolin, we were near an area called the limestone pavement which really consisted of thin strips of limestone rock covering the ground as if it were a road. This leads all the way out to the sea. As we were walking around exploring, we saw an old bathtub filled with water. As we were inspecting it, an older Irish man approached us and said it was used as a basin to water the cows. He said this area was shared farming land for the farmers in this vicinity. He said, “When I was a little boy, the farmers used to walk their cows down to the river for water.” He recommended we walk further towards the ocean and pointed out a large rock that was apparently some kind of religious marker or tombstone from the prehistoric era. Ryan pointed to another large boulder on the horizon and asked the man if that was also prehistoric. He said, “A witch on the Aran Islands got mad and threw that rock across the sea and there it landed! Or that is the story they told us growing up, really it is a glacial formation from the Ice Age.” We continued to walk and were climbing over rock walls, walking among the limestone pavement. We happened upon another older man with a fishing pole. He said, “Beautiful day isn’t it?” and we started chatting. He said, “You aren’t from around here, are you?” He explained that he had grown up here but since moved to Galway but whenever the weather was nice or he had a break, he loved to come back home and enjoy the countryside and a bit of fishing. After we took a bunch of pictures, we figured we should make our way towards the Cliffs of Moher!

We had a lovely ride through the countryside on our way to the cliffs. We stopped in the tiny main street of Doolin with colorful store fronts, a river, and a white horse grazing. From there, we started to cycle uphill in the direction of the cliffs. The hill became particularly steep right near some castle ruins and I felt like my legs were going to explode. We stopped for some pictures and continued on our way. It seemed like we were on a never-ending hill and I didn’t think I would make it the whole way! Mattie, at the hostel, had said it would just be 1.5 hours by bike and after 1 hour of cycling it seemed we had barely gotten anywhere! The roads were very narrow so we had to really keep an eye out for oncoming traffic on these switchback mountain roads. I realized how ridiculously out of shape I was and had to take quite a few breaks to walk the bike as we continued our ascent. The views were amazing though, as we got higher and higher we could look back down to Doolin, green sloping hills, the castle turret, the cliffs and ocean ahead of us. Almost 3 hours later we were finally approaching the tourist center at the Cliffs of Moher! I never felt happier to get to a place and ditch the bike, already my butt was sore from the seat!

The visitor center is actually built into the Cliffs and therefore the roof is covered with grass! We stopped in at some Celtic jewelry shops firsts and did a bit of shopping finding some unique gifts and souvenirs. We finally made our way just another hundred feet or so up the steps to the very top of the cliffs. The wind was whipping and we had to bundle up again now they we had cooled off from our ride. The cliffs are breathtaking and seem to fall off for miles down into the ocean. They are jagged but this harshness is coupled with green moss and grass which covers much of the cliffside. The cliffs almost look as if they are shrouded in sea mist and you can see birds flying out of crevices in the cliff walls. There is even a small castle-like building on the cliff top as well which was very photogenic. As it was now nearly dinnertime, most of the tourists had left and we were able to have a peaceful experience there. After taking it all in, we figured we’d better start heading back to town as our appetites were starting to build, plus we didn’t want to be cycling those narrow roads in the dark! The idea of going back to Doolin, another 12km, seemed quite daunting as I was exhausted but what choice did we have!

Luckily most of the ride was downhill but on even on the flat parts, I felt like my legs were made of lead! Ryan kept telling me to “hurry up, keep up!” but I kept at my own pace, weak with hunger! All I envisioned while riding was a huge meal and a nice pint of Guinness and that kept me going. A little over an hour later, with dusk upon us, we were back on the main street of Doolin. We went right into Gus O’Connor’s pub. It was warm and toasty inside and totally filled with people and a traditional Irish music session in the backroom. We couldn’t even find a single table at which to sit until a middle-aged couple offered to share their 4 seater with us! We had a delicious meal of salmon and mashed potatoes for me, and fish & chips for Ryan. We had a good conversation with the Irish couple talking about all things from their travels in the US to the Irish healthcare system. Before heading back to the hostel, we enjoyed the music for a few more songs. I would have stayed all night if I wasn’t so exhausted!

When we emerged from the cozy pub, it was cold, damp, and pitch black outside. We walked our bikes the remaining 1 mile to the hostel. The common room of the hostel was full of guests, most of them German, but there were a few Americans from CA. The potbellied stove was burning turf and it was so warm and relaxing in there. Since it was Easter Sunday, I talked to family at home as they sat around the dinner table…I wished we could all be together either here or at home. After a warm shower, we fell right asleep in our bunk beds!

We ended up sleeping in the next morning because when we first awoke, it was grey and rainy. The Irish couple from the previous night had told us that today would be bad weather so instead of getting up early to take a ferry to the Aran Islands, we opted for sleep. By the time we packed up and left the hostel though, the weather was amazing again, but at this point it was too late for the ferry. We walked down the road to McGann’s pub and enjoyed a hearty and filling full Irish breakfast including eggs, sausage, rashers (aka bacon), blood sausage, beans, toast and tea! Afterwards, we walked down to the Doolin harbor and explored the many tide pools in the limestone rocks at the shore. We had great views from there back to the cliffs, the castle, and even a waterfall into the ocean. We were upset we missed seeing the Aran Islands, but it was nice to have a slow paced morning too and just enjoy the sights and sounds of the country.

At 1:45 we caught one of the few buses out of Doolin, this time headed to the city of Galway about one and a half hours away. The drive through the Burren was quite beautiful as well. We only had about 2 hours in Galway before our train back to Dublin. We took a stroll through this lively city which was full of people all off from work for Easter Monday. We walked by a fountain in a park which had obviously been filled with soap and there were suds everywhere. The kids were going crazy over it!! We then made our way down the pedestrian shopping streets. The city has quite a young feeling with a large university population. There were loads of people sitting outside the pubs enjoying food or drink in the sunshine. Galway is the birthplace of the Claddagh ring which is quite popular in the US as well as here. It is the two hands holding a heart in between them. We went to the shop where they were first sold as jewelry! After a quick meal of crepes for a light dinner, we headed back to the train station. We had a fabulous weekend exploring western Ireland but we were thoroughly exhausted and happy to head back “home” to Dublin!