Day 28 - Caves and Cliffs, Ireland
Wednesday 10th 2025 - Galway to Bunratty, Ireland
After a wonderful breakfast, scrambled eggs and bacon, fruit, yoghurt, toast, tea and freshly squeezed orange juice, we had a final chat with our host Derrick seeking some advice on where we should head today. He suggested that a visit to the Cliffs of Moher would be a waste of time due to the inclement weather predicted ! The weather was coming in direct from the North Atlantic Ocean and we were expecting rain all day ! So the rough plan for today became, visit some caves, on to Doolin Village, check out some cliffs at Kilkee and finally to Bunratty - our Bnb for the night.
Unfortunately, these caves were very underwhelming, but they were very wet caves and it was the first time we had seen waterfalls within the cave. Actual formations of calcium deposits were few and far between. This cave was formed by melt water following the ice age and the tunnel created by the underground river was significant. Having found evidence of bones of bears that once lived in the caves, they showed animations of bears in hibernation, and of bats which currently inhabit another section of the cave with the population increasing over the years.
As Doolin Cave was on the way to Doolin Village, we decided to check that one out as well. This had to be better as it was home to the largest stalactite in Europe and 3rd largest in the world ! Wow - how could we go past it ?? We hadn't booked in for a tour, but we arrived at 12:50 and was able to join in on the 13:00 tour...what lucky timing !
The stalactite WAS impressive!! Described as "a force of nature that will take your breath away". From the brochure ...
"Deep in the heart of the earth, 200 feet down, Doolin Cave is a fantasy world created from water, time and the hand of nature. Take a journey down through an intricate system of passages and pathways that will lead you into the majestic cathedral-like dome of the cave and awe-inspiring wonder that is the Great Stalactite.
At 7.3 metres long and weighing around 10 tonnes, this vast structure reaches down from the roof of the cave."
To see it we descended 125 steps, stepped though man made tunnels to the large cave, and the stalactite was the only formation there! We donned hard hats before we traversed the passages and just as well as Graeme hit his head 5 times on the way through !
Another cave ticked off on our growing list. After a coffee, we left at around 14:50 and the weather was still average with waves of rain going over us. We drove through Doolin village and decided not to stop, and Graeme googled for free viewing places for the Cliffs of Moher. He thought he found one at the North side of the cliffs, but when we got there it was in fact the main visitor centre. We bit the bullet, paid for our entry and car park and set off to view the cliffs, after all this is the most visited outdoor tourist location in Ireland.
As we were purchasing the tickets, the attendant in the parking booth informed us that the viewing tower was closed due to the strong winds. He was not exaggerating, as simply getting out of the car was a struggle as the winds in the car park were already quite strong. We both layered up with two jackets, beanies and gloves. It was a reasonable walk to the viewing platforms and the strength of the wind near the cliff face blew us like we had never ever experienced before. The views were impressive, but unfortunately the afternoon sun position made it difficult to get good photos. The car park was large, over a dozen buses lined up in another area and the crowd numbers were amazing, so many swarming over the clifftop walks.
Since we had paid, we went into the display and exhibitions area, including a 4D presentation. Even though we had not planned on coming here, we were glad we did ! A few spots of rain fell at one stage but how lucky with the weather otherwise.
From the Cliffs we set our Sat-nav to take us to our accommodation for the night at Bunratty Castle Mews, arriving at 17:20 to be greeted by the host yelling at us to park in another area. Not a great welcome, and the experience of this BnB continued to be less than good for us, with eclectic tastes throughout and lots of clutter everywhere.
What started as a relatively unplanned day, challenged by the weather, turned out to be a full day of activities and experiences.
Tomorrow's forecast is rain - of course!
Winter??