by YESSSSSSSSSS. ahhhhahahahaha today was SO GREAT. GAH. The weather cleared up and I spent an hour on the top of a boggy peninsula surrounded by cliffs, howling wind, the crashing of waves, and not another human soul for a mile. It was stunning and gorgeous and probably my second-favorite experience after the hike to Malin’s Head at the top of Ireland.
Blue Lagoon
The day started off by driving along the coast to Downpatrick Head. Once again I can’t describe the various shades of amazing blue that the waters up here can come up with. Just stunning. There’s a really cool chunk of rock that looks like it’s split off from the mainland and floated out a hundred feet into the sea, but I didn’t get to see it up close since the parking lot was full and the suggestion from the ticket taker guy was to park at the lot 5 miles away and walk back. I mean… it’s not THAT cool of a rock.
Snooze Fields
The next stop was Céide Fields, home to a 6000-year-old neolithic site with “the oldest known stone-walled fields in the world” which sounded cool and worth checking out. It’s perched on a field right on the coast with awesome views of where I’d just been and where I was headed. I walked through the visitor center out to the fields and… woof it’s not much. There are paths that take you around to see… piles of stones. Some in straight lines for 15 feet. One in a big-ish circle.
And the wind was driving down the hillside towards the ocean so hard it knocked me back twice.
The cliffs at the bottom of the fields dropping into the ocean were gorgeous though.
There Should Really Be Some Handrails
Finally I ended up at the Carrowteige Loop Walk head, a spot at the end of a barely-paved one-lane road right on the edge of a series of cliffs. Right away you’re standing on the edge of this bog/peat grassland that just falls straight off down these cliffs into a little cove. And it’s fucking amazing. As I kept walking to my left I could see that I’d get a better view of this massive cliff across the little bay, and soon realized I had this whole little peninsula to myself. The wind was only slightly less strong than at the neolithic site, and I’m trying to get as close to the edge as possible to see down into the bay and get a better view. It was stunning and a tiny bit scary, which made it all the better.
There were a bunch of places where I just stopped and soaked it in. I got this awesome video of the waves crashing into this huge chunk of the cliff that had clearly fallen into the bay at some point.
I continued to make my way along the cliff’s edge out past that cute little pond, and stood at the very tip of the peninsula. Again, I just stood there for the longest time soaking it in. The sounds, the sights. Amazing on every level and I’m so happy the weather turned out for this final bit of Ireland.
On my way back, I noticed a group of people had hiked the path to the right when I had gone left. It took them up to the top of the massive cliff across the bay. While I’m sure the view up there was great, I wouldn’t trade my solo experience basking in the solitude of that moment. I did grab some pics just so you can see the perspective on how huge this cliff was.
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