On the Edge of Ireland

Cliffs of Mohr

Saturday

Cliffs of Harry Potter anyone? YES! Woke up on Saturday at 9 a.m. for the API excursion to Co. Clare. The day was amazing! (see facebook for more pictures) Our first stop was to a birds of prey place where we saw a bird show and looked at some really cool owls (one looked like Hedwig from Harry Potter! and yes this day was all Harry Potter themed to me!) After the Birds we went to the Burren (where I had hiked last weekend) and got to go inside of it instead of on top. We went through the caves that are below which were really cool. It was a guided tour and we got to see underground waterfalls, old bear remains, and had a cool experience of complete pitch blackness, where the guide turned out ALL of the lights in the cave and we could not see anything. It was kind of strange and my eyes were bugging out trying to find a source of light because I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face. After the cave we stopped for lunch at a small pub in a little town near the Cliffs of Mohr and guess what? I saw my friend Gill!!!!!!!! (who goes to QU but is in Cork for the semester) Out of all the places in Ireland to see her it is in this little town! We both happened to be going to the Cliffs of Mohr that day. She went before lunch we were going after. It was really awesome to see her even if it was only for a few minutes!

Can't believe I ran into Gill

After lunch of vegetable soup at the pub we went to the highlight destination of the day: The Cliffs of Mohr! I can't even describe in words how amazing this was. And yes I am running out of verbs to describe the amazingness of Ireland. When we first got the the Cliffs on Mohr we decided not to look and went straight to the castle on the right side of the cliffs to get the best view. The wind was whipping and at one point we were just leaning into in to stay upright. We were running and jumping in the wind and it was really hard to stay upright. I felt like I was in the Harry Potter scene at the caves when I got my first glimpse of the water. (again see pictures on facebook for more). The day felt like the one in the movie, somewhat overcast and the water was raging and hitting the cliffs like a ton on bricks. It was so cool! We started on the edge that had the barrier wall and then got adventurous and went to the other side of the Cliffs closer to the cave mouth side. The barrier disappeared once we entered the "private property" side of the cliffs. It was kind of scary being so close to the edge. 

Sydney, Me, Juliann, and Kailey

We were On The Edge Of Ireland.

It wouldn't have been soo scary if the wind wasn't so insane. We wanted to get close to the edge, but it was too crazy to attempt especially without a barrier to keep us safe so we crawled out to the edge and held our cameras out to get a picture then hurriedly made our way back to safety. When we finally had to go back to the bus it got to the point where I was scared to move because the wind was so strong that I had to stay in one place and hold onto the rocks until it died down enough to move again. Once we were back on the bus the wind was still insane and the bus was rocking in the wind. We finally headed back and stopped at a burial site that is hundreds of years old in Ireland, but it couldn't compare to the Cliffs that we had just seen, so even though it was fascinating it was still not that exciting. On the way home we were all exhausted and basically fell asleep for most of the ride. When I got back all I wanted to do was take a hot shower and go to sleep, which is what I did!