On the way to the cliffs of Moher, we got to travel through The Burren, a rocky area some 250 square kilometers in area.
The Burren
Apparently during the potato famine the government made people build rock fences in this area in exchange for food, and those fences can been seen today, and were often build apropos of nothing, going 1 or 2 km up a hill and then abruptly stopping. Fields would often be divided up by the fences into lots about the size of a suburban house lot. I guess there was no shortage of rocks or people needing busy work.
Here is a good photo of some ridiculous fences on flickr.
The land is good for grazing cattle, who eat the lush grass growing in the cracks between the rocks.
We also got to see a few cliffs by the sea – precursors to Moher. They were only baby cliffs, at 20 or so meters, but they were enough to set off my vertigo.
The Burren cliffs
The two photos above were taken about 100m apart from each other, during a stop to have a look around. In the photo below I was facing away from the sea, and just over the ridge is where I took the top photo.
The Burren road
The Burren is an area of striking desolate beauty, and well worth seeing.