Today is another bus drive day, through the green countryside and on to the Cliffs of Moher, which are stunning if not cold and windy. We’ve been lucky with the rain however, and even luckier that Alacoque and Tony are so good that they know to get us to the Cliffs first, before any other tours. It was lovely, we had the place to ourselves for a while and when we left? It was jam packed. 

So begins our walk around the Cliffs – which started out up a huge set of stairs to the O’Brien’s Tower, the stone observation tower built in 1835. From here the view to the South is wonderful, even as misty and overcast as it is.

WARNING: Another day of achingly beautiful Irish country and seaside viewing. View or skip pictures as you like.

The Cliffs stretch for 8km and there is a coastal walk that goes from the village of Liscannor to Doolin which is about 18km total. Obviously, we’re not walking that whole route, but we do get to venture fairly far out to the South with the time we have allotted. We pass these adorable food trucks – the “You had me at Hello” with the phone on the side of the trailer was a particular favorite – and watch as the trail stretches out in front of us alongside pastures filled with cattle.

Cliff visit complete, we continue on our journey through the lush countryside

to the Rathbaun farm for tea and scones. The farmhouse is 240 years old, and after our tea (ok, water for me and coffee for Ed) and scones….

…we are led out to the barn to look at adorable sheep and baby lambs that so badly want to be out of their stall and with us they are squealing at top volume. And they get their wish when the sheep farmer lets them out to be fed. We don’t partake, but it is adorable watching them. Oh and we get a lesson on peat – what looks like a pile of, well, sheep or some other animal pooh is really a pile of peat for burning to keep the barn warm. That was interesting.

Then onto to the main event, sheep herding! Oh man. That was fascinating. First the dog just sort of stalks the sheep, which is kind of scary in it’s own way. Reminds me of those damn hyenas. Then starts circling and takes off – and those sheep. Oh my god they are fast! The dog goes back again, circling and chasing and they come roaring past us into the pen on the other side of the barn. Totally fun.

Now we are on our way to Galway.