We left our Galway hotel and headed south around Galway Bay, then west to County Clare and the Cliffs of Moher. These cliffs played the part of the Cliffs of Insanity in The Princess Bride, and they have also appeared in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and other films.
We stopped along the way to shoot some limestone hills. This is very near an area called The Burren, which is essentially an enormous, craggy, limestone landscape. Our plan was to drive through The Burren on the way back to the hotel.
And then it was on to the Cliffs! As we got closer and closer to the shore, the weather got worse and worse. At one point it was raining so hard I had to pull over and stop the car. And as you may know, I have driven in rainstorms a time or two in my life. We later learned that the tail end of a hurricane was hitting the shore that day. Because of course it was.
Man. Sure would suck to fall off that.
Duly noted.
This is O'Brien's Tower, a structure built solely to attract visitors. It is nearly 200 years old. In Ireland, even the tourist traps are ancient.
A couple of shots from the Tower.
And down the stairs we go.
Next stop: Newfoundland.
Looking north at the Cliffs.
And back at the Tower.
So did I mention that the tail end of a hurricane was hitting the Cliffs? THE WIND WAS SAVAGE AND BRUTAL.
This is my wife leaning forward into the wind so that she is not blown onto her back.
I, on the other hand, looked totally cool.
Take note of my pants here. These pants are not usually this tight. They are loose and baggy. But the wind here has blown them into very snug leggings.
This is Bridget taking in the wild Irish landscape. I love this photo.
More shots looking north.
After a while we started heading south.
Stopping to take a few shots inland.
We passed by this big puddle. Note the dude at the bottom wiping his face. This was not because of the rain. More on this later. But you can see the waves on the puddle. Puddles, ideally, would have no waves.
More shots looking south.
We thought about walking out to the end, but it was farther than it looks. And so we headed back.
Here I have captured the exact moment of our trip where Bridget was sick and tired of me taking photos. Too bad for her.
That little spire rising from the sea is called Branaunmore sea stack.
Here is a close-up of that puddle we passed earlier. Note the chop on the water.
I wanted a better view, so I moved downwind.
Sometimes I do dumb things.
This is a photograph of the wind picking water up from the puddle and blowing it into my face. Water, and stones. Chunks of rock. Hard, jagged little bits of the earth itself, plucked from its resting place and hurled at me with fury and rage. It hurt.
So yeah, we looked north again.
Here is me with O'Brien's Tower in the background.
Looking back south.
Bridget wanted a photo of me with the tower in my hand. Saying no to her here would have been a very, very bad idea.
After a few hours of that, we stopped for lunch at a local cafe. (Thanks to Lance Evers!) The place was called ... wait, what's this?
They control the British crown. They keep the metric system down. And they make outstanding tomato soup. And delicious fresh fish cakes. And homemade ice cream.
And then it was time to go home. And after hours of walking through sopping wet hurricane residue, we were too damn tired to go see The Burren. So we went back to our hotel and Bridget took pictures of me driving.
This photo is about as close as we got to the Burren. Look, kids. Limestone.
We had a quiet night of in-room massages (thanks to Darren Wadsworth!) and dinner at the hotel (thanks to Tim, Lucinda, Craig, and Terra Hauser!) We had one more day in Galway before heading north.
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