Day 4 has been a wonderful day! I left the planning to Andy today since he is bringing his Achilles heel up to full health. He chose a cool hike called Abbey Hill Loop only six miles away that turned out to be a perfect ramble with a few unexpected and delightful surprises.
First, we had to find the trailhead, and like yesterday’s hike, was not marked in any way. In Ireland, if the hike you’ve chosen is not a national waymarked trail it will most likely not have any marking. We used a combination of a screenshot of the AllTrails map with some saved Google Maps to find our way to the narrow farm lane leading to a parking spot. From there we just pointed ourselves up the Burren landscape to the top of Abbey Hill.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with this landscape it is profoundly beautiful in it’s stark and rugged beauty. Here is a description of the unique geologic phenomena. And here is a short clip of what it’s like to walk over it.
It’s mesmerizing to hike over it as the shapes of the rocks under your feet change in beautiful and often elegant ways. Here is one great example:
If the shifting rock shapes weren’t enough to carry one away than the wildflowers will. Spring Gentian, Mountain Avens, Primrose, Irish Eyebright, False Oxslip, Dark-Red Helleborine (a wild Orchid)So many varieties. My favorite is this delicate one — the Herb Robert:
With no trail to guide us, Andy and I had a lot of fun finding our way over Abbey Hill and down into the Valley, guided by the ruin of a 14th century abbey — Corcomroe Abbey. To get there we had to climb over rock walls and through some brambles and past some really big cows. It was worth it:
From there we crossed another pasture and emerged 100 yards down from a gourmet gluten free bakery and chocolatier!!
With a belly full we headed up the Burren on the other side of the Valley. This time we came across a large herd of feral goats!
The landscape is magical. It seeps into you over time. Andy did a great job of capturing it in this video:
After this magnificent ramble we headed down to the Atlantic and jumped in! Brrrr! (But not as cold as the brook at home!)
Tomorrow we are off to Limerick to find our Great Great Great Granfather Garrett O’Shaughnessy’s gravestone.
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