Last Saturday, I had the opportunity to revisit the place that inspired me to choose Ireland as my study abroad destination: the Cliffs of Moher!
It was certainly an adventure, much different than I remembered it being! It’s funny what 5 years, a lot of erosion, and a group of friends can do to a memory.
Getting to the Cliffs
A large group of students gathered at the bus stop at 7:40am on a Saturday morning to wait for a tour bus to show up. It was about 10 minutes after the 7:45am departure time that the bus actually rolled up… on the other side of the road. We all quickly got across the street and onto the bus, ending up with 24 students. The bus made one more stop in Merchant’s Quay to pick up 1 more student, and then we were bound for the Cliffs.
We stopped at a petrol station to get some food. I managed to get some snacks: a gingerbread man, a twisted chocolate butter-pastry thing, and a water bottle. Very exciting, I know. That all lasted about 10 minutes, and that was with my utmost self-control.
Climbing the Cliffs of Moher
Once we got to the Cliffs of Moher, I noticed that the bus was not taking us to the place that I’d been dropped off at in 2013 when I visited with family. I like to refer to this part as the “at-your-own-peril” path, especially once I noticed that we had to sort of shimmy through a fence to get onto the path altogether!
The slope up the edge of the Cliffs was slick with mud and there was a dilapidated-looking fence to the left. One strand of the fence was normal, one barbed wire, and one electric, all strung between old wooden posts. That translates into a 2/3 chance of being in serious pain if you grab onto the fence when you start falling down the Cliffs.
Luckily, I only fell twice and I didn’t need to grab onto the fence to stop myself. Well, I wasn’t close enough to the fence grab it even if I had needed it! Unfortunately, I did get mud all over the knees of my jeans and my sleeves from reaching out to find a handhold on the steep landscape.
Several people in our group fell and had some difficulty making their way up the Cliffs, which was mildly terrifying and also hilarious. All-in-all, though, it was a great time. We got to take some incredible photos of the Cliffs and of our group. It seemed like every 5 minutes we stopped for a photo-op, but no one really seemed to mind.
I took so many photos of people, someone behind me at one point said: “Look at Lynn, turning anything into a photo-op!”
I love photography, and my terrible memory appreciates my borderline obsession with documenting every moment of my life for posterity.
The wind did threaten to blow us over at several points, but the gusts came from the edge and pushed us inward, luckily. It would definitely have been infinitely more dangerous if the wind would’ve been blowing towards the edge, so there would’ve definitely been a damper on the hilarity of everyone stumbling!
Walking along the edge of the Cliffs of Moher, we eventually shimmied through a gap in a stone wall to get from the path to a stone observatory. I definitely remembered that part from my trip five years ago! I didn’t go inside, but I took some photos of the Cliffs from the landing and some of our group with the observatory. That classic jumping pose? Apparently it’s much easier to take that photo with a real camera on sport mode. Yet another instance where stealing Nick’s camera was helpful!
Looking at the time, I decided to take my leave of the group early to go into the visitors’ center and clean up. I did my best to wash and dry my sleeves in the bathroom and then set out to find my friends.
I bought some postcards and a coffee before walking around the building with a few friends. The visitors’ center had a few interesting displays about the history of the Cliffs that we looked at. It was when we got to the restaurant upstairs that we found out tour bus driver, who asked us to meet us downstairs.
Once we all got back on the bus, we started the drive back to Cork!
Getting to Cork
We made our first stop about 20 minutes in at a place called the Rock Shop. They had an eclectic little set-up with inventory ranging from handmade jewelry to fairy and dragon figurines, to garden supplies, to salt lamps. I bought a tiny skull with a Celtic knot design on it to go with the rest of my tiny decorations!
From there, we drove back to the same petrol station we’d stopped at earlier in the day. I got my usual meal: a large plate of chips with ketchup. I never ate so many french fries at home, but there’s something very satisfying about ordering a huge plate of chips here that I just love.
Once we left, we passed the time talking and listening to music before getting back to Cork. The group decided to head out for dinner and drinks, but I was pretty exhausted after such a long day. When we got back to the apartment buildings, I took my leave of everyone and hid in my bedroom from the world.
Reflecting on our Trip
I had a really great time on our adventure. The Cliffs of Moher are beautiful and majestic. Really, it sounds cliche to say it, but the landscape left me breathless.
When I got up to where the Cliffs plateaued and found myself standing on a flat rock outcropping overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, I had to take a moment to just stop and look at the scene before me. That view is why I decided to come back to Ireland for study abroad. Ireland is such a beautiful country, and I love being here!
Thank you to all of my friends for going on this adventure with me! I had an excellent time, and I’m so glad that I had the opportunity to experience the Cliffs of Moher again!
Today’s song is a classic. It poses a very important question that I ask myself every time I see those cheap Ryanair flights that can whisk me away from all of my actual responsibilities: Should I stay or should I go? Enjoy!