My Trip to the UK and Ireland, Day 8

We're on the train early in the morning, on our way out to Galway to see the Cliffs of Moher

So these would be the fields of Athenry, then.

Here is me and Robb... I've finally been able to shave, and Robb is... Robb is Robb.

As we got nearer, the sky turned dark... very dark.

We made it to Galway, and now are boarding this bus, which will take us to the Cliffs.

This is us on the bus.. and that dude looking back... he later introduced himself as Tyler. He's from Scotland, and was touring Ireland from coast to coast to coast to coast (N-S-W-E). He was an interesting guy, and was very vocal about how much he enjoyed Ireland/the Cliffs, and how much he did not like the lady he dealt with in Ireland immigration office.

The scenery on the bus ride, which took a couple of hours, was excellent.

We began to approach some mountains, and those rock fences were everywhere.

The next 8000 pictures will be of the mountains we drove through.

The weather kept going from sunny blue to dark and raining... then back again every 5 minutes or so.

The shadows of low dark clouds raced over the mountains. It was really windy, and they were moving very, very fast.

And that there is probably the Atlantic Ocean.

Here's a look out the window at the Ocean and the mountains as we drove along.

There's a small tower or something down the hill from us.

More mountains.

The roads were very narrow, and the corners very, very tight, and this giant bus was just racing up them. It was both frightening and impressive at the same time.

More mountains in the distance.

The view was amazing as we climbed the higher and higher.

You could see for miles and miles, and the shadows of clouds continued to amaze me as they sped by.

And there were sheep and cows everywhere still. Mostly sheep.

Did I mention how small, narrow, and tightly curved the roads were? yeah... It was scary.

Now we're back to rain... I was very much hoping it would not rain while we were at the Cliffs.

And now we have arrived at the Cliffs.

There will be many, many pictures of the cliffs, and none will do the place justice. it was so very beautiful there. [Also, very very windy.]

They streched on for a long long ways.

A look around the Cliffs at the very start.

I hope you can get a sense of scale from some of these pictures.... look for people at the points of each section... The cliffs were huge.

Hi. it's me at the Cliffs of Moher.

This is O'Brien's tower.

More Cliffs, as we walk to O'Brien's Tower.

If you can't tell, I was quite taken with the Cliffs.

I wanted to see as much as I could, so I was kinda racing up the stairs, but every few steps, I'd turn, and see this, and have to take another picture.

O'Brien's Tower... it's a gift shop now.

This is on the other side of O'Brien's tower.

Me and the Cliffs. It was really windy... but not raining. Yea!

Getting a good picture with my head in it proved difficult.

Try again...

Remember these? They're the Cliffs of Moher, and they're spectacular.

Here's a look from the Cliffs, across the ocean, then up to O'Brien's Tower.

Now you can see people walking along the path up the Cliffs. See.. I told you it was big.

Hi. Here's me on the ledge .. If I stepped back a few feet, I would die.

We had some girls take our picture on the ledge. You can see, I'm continuing to shrink.. also it's windy.

I leaned out over the edge, then got down on my stomach, and inched myself over the edge, and took this picture. it was a long way down.. and I freaked myself out doing it. But it looked very very kewl.

Here's me and the cliffs. I wanted a picture where I wasn't waving at the camera.

Me again.. I decided the previous one made me look like a little girl. I like this one.

Here's a look back towards where we were before.. .that's the Ledge we were on, and there's O'Brien's tower in the distance.

When I first made it to the ledge, Tyler was there, and he had this giant grin on his face.. and we were both just kinda speechless for a while.. Then Tyler finally said something about how beautiful it was there that managed to include as many curse words as non-curse words. I agreed with him.

I told you i took many many pictures here.. Look up at the ledge on the right. That's where we were... and that's what I leaned out over.. seeing it from teh side made it a bit mroe frightening..

There's a shot of the ledge again.. and look right in front.. you'll note there's no guard rail, or anything.. it's just small worn footpath, small tuft of grass, then certain death. Awesome.

Watching the ocean crash up against the stone could have entertained me for hours.

A scan around the cliffs from the other side.. zooming in on O'Brien's tower and the look-out ledge.

I had soon decided to change from smaller resolution (1280x720) to full (1600x1200), thinking some of these pictures I'd want to print and frame.

The Cliffs of Moher.. in case you forgot.

The ocean streched on forever.. but you can see what looks like an island off in the distance.

The Cliffs again.

Anothe rlook back at the parking lot, the look0out ledge, and the footpath that treads frighteningly close to certain death.

We're making out way along the cliffs. We had a limited amount of time, so we could not make it all the way to the end, which was a shame, but made the most of our time there.

I was very tempted to try to sprint down to the end and back, but I would have surely fallen to my death.

I love how lush and green the tops (and much of the sides) were.

As you can see, we made it quite a long way from O'Brien's Tower.

That guy was taking pictures while dangling over the edge.

Here's a look at the ocean and the cliffs, and the path back to the parking lot.

Another look at those Cliffs. I like this shot a lot.

In this one you can see the small stone-plate fence they had by one small section. this is the farthest point we walked to, before heading back to the bus.

A spin around in a circle at the farthest point we walked to at the Cliffs.

The parth went right by the edge again, and I leaned over, and freaked myself out, and took a few shots.

We are now walking back to the bus. Joel and Robb are just ahead.

The Ocean was also spectacular.

Me and the Cliffs one last time.

More shots of the cliff as we returned to the parking lot.

That's the parking lot.. and the green seems to strech on forever beyond it.

We now must say goodbye to the spectacular Cliffs of Moher.

There's our bus back to Galway.

The sky was pretty clear and blue much of the time, and really made everything look that much more beautiful.

Like I said, it was really windy. We are now waiting for the bus.

remember when I was talking about the very narrow sharp winding roads... We were driving back and hit a corner, and there was this semi trying to come up.. Eventually we had to back up quite a bit, and let him by.. and he was a few inches tops from us as we passed each other.

Hey hey! We're in Galway now, and touring the city.

This is a Cathedral in Galway.

The stained glass was impressive.

Cathedral in Galway.

Getting closer.

We're inside now, and I'm not yet sure if I'm allowed to take pictures.. so I'm sneaking some shots.. that's why they're blurry. [no flash]

Up there a younger boy (early teen maybe?) was getting a lesson in the organ.. and he was really, really good. it added a whole layer of.. something.. atmosphere? to hear this organ playing while walking through this giant Cathedral.

There's another church over there.

I believe we're headed towards that steeple over there.

We stopped in this pub for some food.

Here's the train back to Dublin.

I must have fallen asleep, and Joel must have taken my camera.. and Robb must... Robb must be Robb.