When Irish Eyes Are Smiling [Day 4]

I have been mentally writing this post since the day it happened, and I now finally going to actually write it down and share it with y'all.

First there are 3 things you need to know before diving in:


1) I didn't know we would be hiking when I packed for this trip, so I left my hiking clothes and shoes in St. Gallen. Hence the nice leather boots on this hike [and the hike and bike ride earlier in the week]


2) I am deathly afraid of heights. Like super duper super duper super duper afraid. I don't even change light bulbs if climbing a ladder is involved. [If you are asking how such a fear fits with my willingness to be a pilot, its all about control (and my dad has the same fear and is a very accomplished pilot, so its also genetic...)]

3) My dad's mom (my last living grandparent, in fact) died in September. She passed away 4 days before I left for Switzerland and her funeral was held the day I arrived here. As such, I was not able to be there and never really got any closure. Well this same grandmother is the one who took me to Ireland in Spring of 1997 for my first trip out of the country. This day was my closure of her passing in many ways. So I did a lot of crying.

So, without further ado,

The Cliffs of Moher [also known as the Cliffs of Insanity or the hiding place for one of Lord Voldemort's horocruxes]

There isn't an official hike along the Cliffs and as such there is no path/trail or signage. So we had to get a map from the man at our hostel

What this tells us is there are two gates we have to climb over, a waterfall, a stone village, and a jut-in; thats it. [and the helpful note on where the "sea" is located]

With this unbelievably detailed map in hand, we set off on our hike 

Our destination 

The first gate we had to go around. The one that says this is super dangerous don't do it. 

So pretty

How Irish is this!!

We had been warned that the walk would be very muddy, when we first started with this kinda mud, we weren't worried. We had no idea what was to come 

Scenery pictures

Random castle 

You can sort of get an idea of how muddy it was from this 

Playing in the mist 

Wild goats 

Which Daniel then chased...

Onto the path right in front of me

Daniel and Lina on the wrong side of the fence

Holding on for dear life 

Cows

Jumping down to the "path" 

My buddy

Down the path we go

Walking on a wall to avoid the mud 

Then back to the mud and animal excrement 

Being very careful not to step in the deep part of the "mud"

Taking a quick rest before starting on the Path of Death 

In case the name doesn't hint at what to come, from this point we spend quite of bit of time on an approximately 8 inch wide path. 

On our left, barbed wire. 

On our right, solid cliff face, rocks, and certain death in the ocean.

At the times the path got wider it was because there was some other obstacle to over come 

A river to walk through

A hole to jump over

Rocks to climb over

And through it all, super slippery mud. 

There was no option to turn back, we were about 2.5 hours in [on what should have been a 2 hour hike...but whatever]. 

Freaking out wasn't really an option, but its all I wanted to do. 

The key was to keep low [got a great quad workout] and take very deliberate and careful steps.

 Jumping over this river that swept over the sides of the cliffs just out of this shot to the left [notice to the right of Daniel's arm the lake like puddle...]

Lina is almost there, just grab Daniel's hand and we all make it safely

And then she slips!! And by the grace of God Daniel grabs her, and as he is trying to pull her up, she is laughing hysterically. Near death will do that to you [and I'm helping by taking pictures obviously]

Barbed wire fence. Thigh high puddle. Cliff edge. 

Daniel made it, but in the process, broke that wooden stake. Making it a bit more difficult for Lina and me [but to his credit, he did help us]

This is the path...

Just in front of the reflection, you can see the fence posts. This really was the Path of Death 

 

Lina and I finally got to a point where we could get on the safe side of the fence [before this it had not been possible b/c the other side of the fence was impassable landscape] Daniel stayed on the wrong side for a bit longer. But then decided it was a better idea to climb THROUGH the barbed wire then continue on the Path of Death 

At this point, the path opens up. We have survived the Path of Death. This deserved a group picture. With the camera sitting on its case and some fun self-timer work! 

YAY!!!! Had so much fun with these two

Finally the traditional "Cliff of Moher" come into view. And we take some fun pictures

Tebowing the Cliffs of Moher

Daniel took this picture with no warning. And I LOVE it

There was one more pseudo-dangerous path segment. That ended just up ahead [as you can see] into the Visitor's Center area.

The only problem is, there is a HUGE fence to keep people at the Visitor's Center from wandering down the path. But it also prevents those people on the path [who really shouldn't be on said path (remember that fence at the beginning...)] from getting to the safety of the Visitor's Center.

So we had to jump over a barbed wire fence into a pasture

This is a short, kinda funny video Daniel made of me making the jump 

Once in this pasture, there is just one little waist high fence between us and the Visitors Center. Easy peasy. Or so we thought. Daniel went up and touched it. Electrified. So we walk along the fence and come to another fence segment in our path. Also electrified [Daniel tested this one also, God bless him!].

Yep. We are trapped.

Luckily where this second electrified fence is only electrified on top, and we can crawl through it to get to the next segment of pasture. We are thinking that we are going to have to do this all the way to the road. [The fence between us and the Visitors Center did not present such an option.]

But then we see this little drainage area. Yep. Thats our way out!!!

So with about a dozen people watching, we crawl through...

One of those days

View from the Visitors Center. As the sun was setting. Gorgeous 

At this point I was ready to head back to the hostel, but Daniel and Lina were not. I had two real options: walk the 8km or wait about 45 minutes for the bus to arrive. 

I decided to walk. 

I made it about half a kilometer when a 30-something year old man in an old, beat-up car pulled up and asked if I needed a ride to Doolin. YES!! As I was climbing into his car, my first thought was "This is how girls get Natalie Holloway-ed." But after what I had been through that day, I was feeling like I could definitely kick ass. Also, the Irish are about the nicest people in the whole wide world.

So this incredibly nice man dropped me off right at the door of my hostel. And Daniel and Lina followed about 30 minutes behind [they had also caught a ride]. 

The night ended with bacon cheeseburgers, whiskey, wine, cards, and

These delicious deserts from the pub across the street.

So thats my adventure. Sorry its so long, but it was quite the day.

Photo credits to Lina, about half of them were hers!!