September 9 - Love This Place, Lesve No Trace

This was another fabulous and spectacular day in beautiful County Clare.

Cliffs of Mohar were the first stop. Signage is definitely entertaining and requires interpreting in Ireland, the funniest we witnessed today was interpreted as ….do not start a fire as it attract seagulls. The Cliffs are located in the Burren region and about 14kms long and a huge 702 feet high at their highest.

After leaving here, we headed unexpectedly to Fort Caherconnell specifically to watch sheepdog demonstrations. It came with a tour guide who expertly explained the history of Fort Caherconnell, it is one of the largest and best preserved 1000 year old stone forts in existence. Built sometime in the 10th century and occupied by high ranking Gaelic families. We leaned about the vertical stonewalls (built by farmers/landowners) and how to spot the difference between the ones built by farmers and those crafted by a stone mason.

By far the best part of the unexpected stop was definitely the sheepdog demonstrations - we met Rose, Sally, and another hose name escapes me but nonetheless important and talented. An actual shepherd used whistles and simple left right commands to instructs the dogs to corral the sheep into various locations. They were entirely adorable and very clever, and their different personalities shone through. The dogs were eager to run around and seemed to have endless energy, the sheep are timid creatures and easily intimidated by a long stare in the eyes from the dogs. After the demonstration, the dogs were equally as eager to received cuddles and belly rubs from the guests - plus we also got to stroke the sheep, o all in all, an exceptional animal experience and it was heartwarming to see how many people there are in the world who just want to pet and love dogs.

After leaving here, it was suggested by our tour guide to stop at Poulnabrone, large stone tombs (megalithic) just up the road that are older than the pyramids! Built between 3800 and 3200 BC, it is the oldest dated megalithic monument in Ireland. It is a collective tomb and sacred ceremonial centre - basically a communal burial site where only skeletons were placed (decomposition happened elsewhere). It was used by the very early farming communities and signaled to rival groups that the surrounding pastures of the Burren belonged to that community and ancestors. Th guide from the Fort explained that the people believed life was a cyclical circular existence.

Enroute, we came across Hazel Mountain Chocolate, the only bean to bar chocolate factory in Ireland and using Irish dairy. We could not resist a hot chocolate which was similar to our Peru hot chocolate and Tash much preferred, quite delicious and well worth the impromptu stop.

Yet again, on the way home, we went via a gas station for Tash to fill one of tires with air. For some reason this has become her task when it requires doing, or which are extremely grateful!Read more