Before school started back up, we visited an area we had seen once before, but got to see a few new sites. We headed to Doolin Cave first on Saturday morning. During our drive we set a booking for noon. Doolin Cave has the northern hemisphere's largest stalactite, weighing in at 10 tonnes and is 23 feet long. After a trek down and back up we drove in to Doolin for some lunch at Stonewall Pizzeria at Hotel Doolin. After lunch we left our car there and headed out on the cliff walk. It is partially closed near Cliffs of Moher but we went pretty far and after about 45 minutes stopped to wander around the tide pool area. After that, Kacey continued on toward Cliffs of Moher and I took the kids back to town. We stopped at Doolin Ice Cream for a bit of a treat. We went and checked in our apartment above Riverside Bistro. It was a nice big 4 bedroom apartment with kitchen and living room. We booked entry at Cliffs of Moher parking for 5pm and met Kacey there. The sun came out again for some really nice pictures. Colin and I went to go in O'Brien's Tower and the others went to walk the cliffs a bit. We got back to the apartment and the kids made some pasta while the parents went to Gus O'Connor's Pub for food and music.
The next day we had tickets for the ferry from Doolin to Inishmore, Aran Islands. The ride is around 45 minutes and we had a nice day for it. We had views of the Plassey Shipwreck on Inish Oirr, which is the shipwreck viewed on the opening credits of Father Ted. Our plan was to rent e-bikes to explore the island. But unfortunately, Colin was not old enough for one. So he and I had to get a tag-along. So while everyone else e-biked around, he and I struggled climbing hills (these bikes are a bit awkward!). We worked hard and did it together. The first road we took was not a maintained road, but we explored the country side by ourselves while traveling to the Wormhole. This is a naturally occurring, perfectly rectangular, blowhole. It is also much larger in person than any picture shows. Kacey was able to get in for a few minutes. We had packed in lunches so we ate a bit on the rocks here. Next we biked to Dun Aonghasa Fort. You leave the bikes near the shops and facilities and walk the trail up. We had a beautiful day for walking and exploring. There are some sheer cliff edges with very little signage or railings. Next we biked west to the Seven Churches. This site is really only two churches and is famous due to its inclusion on pilgrimage in the Catholic church. We headed back to the port town and stopped for a couple views at Kilmurvey Beach. We took the northern (longer but easier) road back. We also stopped at the Seal Colony Viewpoint for some ice cream (and there was at least one seal in the water spotted). Colin and I pedaled hard to get back to town and ended up making good time. He and I hit Inishmore's Tigh Joe Mac's pub for drinks while the others came in later and did some shopping. We got back to Doolin around 5:15. We ordered some food from the bistro downstairs for the kids and then went to McDermott's for dinner and a bit of music.
The next day we packed up and were going to drive the long way out of Clare on our way home. We had a little rain this day, but not a lot. We stopped by the Burren Visitor Centre in Kilfenora. I got a little info about which roads to take to see some sites we wanted to see. We first went to a pilgrimage for me, Father Ted's house! It is privately owned but you can take pictures from the road. We tried to take a road across to Cahercommaun but it dead-ended, so we headed south around and got there easily. This was a nice hike to a ring fort ruins. This one is built on the side of a cliff. We then drove some nice winding roads to Cathair Chonaill ring fort ruins, but this is owned by someone and their visitor centre lost water pressure, so they closed the whole thing. Oh well. We drove a few minutes north to Poulnabrone Dolmen. This is a early neolithic portal tomb whose opening stones have remained in tact for over 5000 years.
