Day 139: Doolin & Cliffs of Moher

Fairly relaxed day today. We didn't have to check out of our apartment until midday so we stayed in for most of the morning, spending some of it on Skype with Shandos's parents. Eventually we set off from Galway, feeling a bit underwhelmed by the town and disappointed with our apartment. But as I say - they can't all be winners!

Today was only a fairly short drive (90 minutes) to the town of Doolin, near the famous Cliffs of Moher. Stopped en route at a couple of spectacular cliffs, as the weather was much nicer today and the views were quite good. Had a quick lunch at a randomly-chosen sandwich place in a random town I've already forgotten the name of, and arrived at our apartment around 2pm.

Thankfully here we were able to check in quite early which was nice, so we settled in and got comfortable. This is a large house still partly under renovation - the housekeeper was around but the guests for the upstairs bedroom weren't arriving until late at night. So we basically had this large farmhouse to ourselves, which we took full advantage of. Got a couple of videos done and Shandos did some writing too.

Headed out in the evening to grab some dinner at a nearby town (we're about 10 minutes drive from anywhere settled at the moment). Neither of us felt particularly hungry so just grabbed a couple of toasted sandwiches at a pub and had a pint of Guinness as well.

By 9pm we decided to head to the Cliffs of Moher and catch the sunset, since it's apparently quite spectacular and the weather was holding. Of course by the time we'd driven the 15 minutes there, it had clouded over again! But by arriving after 9pm, the carpark was basically empty and all of the employees had gone home, so we saved ourselves 10 euros.

The cliffs themselves are definitely beautiful - dark grey rock with clear strata, lots of sheer precipices and rugged edges. 200 metres high in places as well! Even a couple of stone towers built near the edge, though these were a 19th century addition for the aristocrats who came to take the sea air.

Walked back and forth along the available sections, then decided we'd wait until the 10pm sunset anyway. Lucky we did, as there was just enough of a gap between the cloudbank and the horizon to get a beautiful sunset. The cliffs glowed brilliant red and orange for a few minutes and everything got that surreal light of a strong sunset reflecting off the clouds. Took a bunch of pictures and then headed back to the car and home, very happy with how things had turned out.Read more