Issuu

CLARE W I L D

S HO R E S ,

R UG G E D

L A N D S C A PE S

CARSTEN KRIEGER

CON T E N TS

Introduction: A Tour of County Clare

1. The River and the Sea: South and West Clare

2. The Burren: North Clare

3. Rolling Hills and Tranquil Lakes: Mid and East Clare

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Kilbaha Harbour.

I N T RO DUC T IO N

A TOUR OF COUNTY CLARE

I n t roduc t ion: A Tou r of Cou n t y ClaR e

N 1998 (OR THEREABOUTS) my then girlfriend, now

clear as quickly as it had arrived, and headed

wife, and I came to Ireland for a two-week

west towards Kilkee.

tour of County Clare. We flew into Shannon

It is only 13 kilometres from Kilrush to

and took a bus to Ennis, where we rented bikes

Kilkee, a distance you can make easily in under

to set out on our adventure the next morning. Our

an hour on the bike. On this morning, it took us

tour would take us from Ennis to Kilrush, then

almost three hours. The wind and rain refused to

to Lahinch, Lisdoonvarna, Ballyvaughan, Doolin,

clear, and when we finally reached the outskirts

Miltown Malbay and eventually back to Kilrush

of Kilkee, our enthusiasm had very much

and Ennis.

dissipated. We were exhausted, wet and cold. So

This wasn’t our first visit to Ireland, but it was the first time we would be on bicycles. The

we let Lahinch be Lahinch, and knocked on the door of the first B&B we could find.

idea was to enjoy the slower pace and explore

I often wonder how different our lives would

the landscape that had sparked my interest in

be if we hadn't knocked on that particular door.

Ireland in the first place – the Burren – for a

The door opened, Sheila (to this day one of our

whole week. Little did I know that this journey

dearest friends) took a quick look at us and while

would change the rest of our lives.

we were getting the pleasantries out of the way –

It was late April when we set out on the first

where we were from, where we’d come from on

leg of our trip which would bring us to Kilrush.

this miserable day, where we were planning to

At the time the stretch of the N69 between Ennis

go and why we would travel Ireland on bicycles

and Kilrush was still a nice enough road to cycle

to begin with – she shoved us into a wonderfully

on. There was traffic – the N69 is, after all, the

warm kitchen and minutes later we had hot soup,

main road leading west – but, unlike today, it was

even hotter tea, and ham and cheese sandwiches

fairly safe.

in front of us. Things were looking up.

It was the perfect day to spend on the bike,

As it so often does in Ireland, the rain cleared

a light easterly breeze pushing us along and

and the winds eased quickly after all, and the

broken clouds letting the warm spring sunshine

soft spring sunshine had made a reappearance

through. We arrived early in Kilrush, had

by early afternoon. Just like the weather, we also

lunch at the Quayside restaurant, and spent the

had recovered and were wondering what to do

afternoon exploring the town, the marina and the

with the rest of the day when Sheila knocked on

shores of the Shannon Estuary at Cappa.

the door of our room. She offered us a ride into

Of course, the weather did not hold. The

town and a few minutes later we found ourselves

following morning greeted us with threatening

standing at Kilkee’s West End, looking out on the

clouds, pelting rain and a strong westerly wind.

Pollock Holes and George’s Head. ‘Just follow the

Our destination for the day was Lahinch, and

path’, Sheila had said. ‘You won’t regret it.’ So we

after breakfast we hopped on our bikes, still

followed the path, known and famed as Kilkee’s

fairly enthusiastic and hopeful the deluge might

Cliff Walk.

OPP O SI T E : Lough Cullaunyheeda.

I n t roduc t ion: A Tou r of Cou n t y ClaR e

It didn’t take long to fall in love with the place.

in Kilbaha, on the westernmost end of the Loop

We spent the afternoon sitting on the warm

Head Peninsula, where we have been living ever

rock, watching waves crashing against the cliffs,

since. I had come home.

marvelling at the pink flowers forming large carpets or growing right out of the rock (thrift or

County Clare has been my home for almost a

sea pink, the pride of west Clare, as we learned

quarter of a century now, and I still can’t imagine

later) and gazing at a seal’s head popping out of

another place I would rather be. Even on those

the ocean every once in a while. It was one of

cold, wet, windy and dark winter days, the soaked

those rare experiences that forever stick in my

and battered landscape has a melancholy beauty

memory, one of those moments that – in retrospect

that can’t be denied. What makes County Clare

– was a changing point in my life.

special is its diversity. You can circumnavigate

We left Kilkee the following day to catch

the area easily by car in a day but, at the end of

up with our schedule but decided to return the

the journey, you will feel that you have been on

following year to spend more time in west Clare,

a much longer one, one that encompasses vastly

and to visit Sheila. And return we did, over and

different landscapes and sceneries.

over again. For me, west Clare became the place

Let’s start in the county’s capital: Ennis, a

where I felt most at home, the place I longed to

vibrant but relaxed market town on the shores

return to and a place to heal.

of the River Fergus. After a walk around the

Back then, I was a paediatric nurse working

narrow streets, head south, out of the town

in the oncology department, on the ward for bone

and along the Fergus Estuary which joins the

marrow transplantation in a hospital in southern

larger Shannon Estuary at Kildysart. This is a

Germany. At the time, this procedure was still

landscape of undulating hills, small woodlands,

fairly new, a matter of last resort, and the little

vast mudflats, cosy harbours, and a wide-open

patients and their parents I cared for were

sky. You can sense the rawness of the nearby

staring death in the face. This time in my life

Atlantic coast, but at the same time feel sheltered

was an emotional rollercoaster ride, rewarding

and comfortable in the many bays and inlets of

and devastating in equal measures, and west

the twisting and turning shoreline.

Clare became my place to recharge and regain

From Kildysart, the road turns west towards

perspective. Still, after ten years, I had reached

the Atlantic Ocean. With every kilometre

my limits and was close to a burnout. I knew I

travelled, the scenery becomes a bit more rugged,

needed a change.

the estuary gets wider, the water rougher and

In 2002, my wife, who was also a nurse

the landscape more open and exposed. Towns

and working with me on the same ward, and

and villages will be our stepping stones along

we gave up our jobs and everything else in

the way: Labasheeda, Knock, Killimer, Kilrush,

Germany, and moved into a cottage in Shragh,

Moyasta, Querrin, Doonaha, Carrigaholt, Kilbaha.

near Doonbeg. A year later, we bought a house

Eventually you will reach Loop Head, the most

OPP O SI T E : Aughinish, the Burren.

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I n t roduc t ion: A Tou r of Cou n t y ClaR e

southwesterly point of the county, crowned by

Doonbeg, Quilty, Miltown Malbay, Lahinch and

its seventeenth-century lighthouse which sits on

Liscannor. The Atlantic is churning to your

30-metre-high vertical sandstone cliffs. You are

left and a flat patchwork of fields and pastures

now in west Clare and this is a very different

stretches out to your right. The roar of the

landscape: gone is the gentle appearance of the

Atlantic Ocean and the cries of gulls are your

estuary and instead you are faced with sheer

soundtrack, and the air smells of salt and turf

cliffs and rocky shores battered by wave after

smoke. After 80 kilometres through this rough

wave, lonely sea stacks and rocky islands rising

and windswept landscape, past the surfers’

from the choppy waters of the Atlantic, sandy

paradise of Lahinch and the famed Cliffs of

beaches and windswept dunes constantly being

Moher, we reach Doolin.

reshaped by the strong westerly winds. Travel north along this mesmerising coast through its small towns and villages: Kilkee,

A B OV E : The bandstand, Kilkee.

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Here, there is another unmissable change in the landscape: suddenly, grey is the dominating colour. Grey rock platforms, grey boulders,

grey cliffs and grey terraced hills make up the

to yet another change in scenery. The landscape

scenery. This is the Burren, a karst limestone

of east Clare rises and falls in gently rolling hills.

landscape that covers the northern half of

The hilltops are blanketed in bog and heath or

County Clare and parts of southern County

Sitka spruce plantations, the valleys feature lakes

Galway. It’s a landscape that appears barren and

of all shapes and sizes, and the surrounding

desolate, but it’s utterly fascinating and strangely

countryside holds old hedgerows, lone trees and

beautiful. During spring and summer, dots of

small woodlands. This is picture-perfect Irish

blue, yellow, red and white are scattered over this

countryside, including birds singing in the trees,

landscape and hint at the exceptional flora of the

pheasants gallivanting on the road and cattle

Burren, which has made this area a focal point

grazing in the meadows. Eventually, you come

for botanists for centuries.

to Lough Derg, a vast body of fresh water and

The road continues north through this

the eastern boundary of County Clare. The road

unexpected landscape, through the small hamlet

leads south along the lake before veering west

of Fanore, with its golden beach where the Caher

again to return you to the starting point of your

River tumbles into the sea, around the stark

journey. But before that, take in the views across

hillside of Black Head, and then ventures east along Galway Bay and on towards Ballyvaughan. Leaving the Atlantic Ocean behind, the scenery mellows a bit. County Clare’s northern coast is an intricate collection of bays, inlets, peninsulas and islands, backed by the Burren’s beckoning limestone hills, which tell stories of an ancient ocean, vast glaciers, wandering hunter-gatherers, venturing farmers and lone hermits. Shortly after passing the sheltered bay of Bell Harbour, veer away from the coast to travel along the northeastern border of the Burren. As you travel, the limestone hills disappear in the distance and are replaced by a vast limestone plain, criss-crossed by drystone walls and dotted with lakes. This is an area known as the Burren Wetlands, a jigsaw of lakes, ponds, turloughs, fens and marshes, which mark the eastern boundary of the Burren region. Further eastward, the exposed limestone disappears under fields and pastures, giving way

A B OV E : Clogher Beach.

I n t roduc t ion: A Tou r of Cou n t y ClaR e

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the lake to the hills of County Tipperary, and

which is not only County Clare’s longest river

the towns and villages along the way: Whitegate,

but also connects to the Shannon Estuary, once

Mountshannon, Scariff, Tuamgraney and

the main trading route into and out of the west

Killaloe. On the way back to Ennis, stop for a

of Ireland. As a consequence, this place was of

walk along the River Shannon at O’Briensbridge,

some importance, eventually lending its name to

enjoy views of Slieve Bearnagh, visit 12 O’Clock

the entire county.

Hills, Cratloe Wood and Mooghaun Hill Fort,

Clare is also known as the Banner County,

Ireland’s largest Bronze Age settlement, before

but how this nickname came to be is not entirely

reaching Bunratty and finding yourself back at

clear. One oft-cited explanation is the county’s

the Shannon Estuary. From here, Ennis is just a

obsession with banners in the eighteenth and

few minutes up the motorway.

nineteenth centuries. At the time, each trade guild had its own banner: bakers, butchers,

County Clare, known as An Clár in Irish, got its

brogue makers, coopers, nailers, dyers, masons,

name from the Irish word for ‘plank bridge’ –

harness makers, cartwrights, stone cutters

clár – referring to a bridge over the River Fergus

and many more tried to outdo each other in

at what is today Clarecastle, a small town near

producing the most beautiful and enticing

the county’s capital, Ennis. In medieval times,

banner. Banners were also used often and widely

this was the main crossing over the Fergus,

to make political statements and show support

A B OV E : The Shannon Estuary at Cappa. OPP O SI T E : Pollock Holes, Kilkee.

I n t roduc t ion: A Tou r of Cou n t y ClaR e

for or welcome visiting office-holders and other

to start from scratch, travelling around west

political figures.

Clare, up to the Burren and over to east Clare,

County Clare emerged from the Kingdom of

revisiting places I hadn’t been to in years, and

Thomond: established in the twelfth century and

discovering some new spots along the way.

ruled by the O’Brien clan, it consisted of today’s

The result is a collection of images that

counties Clare, Limerick and Tipperary. The

represent ‘my’ Clare, images of places and

O’Briens managed to defend their realm for over

sceneries I cherish and can’t get enough of. It’s a

300 years against the invading Normans, as well

homage to the place I call home.

as other Irish clans. However, they were forced to give up their independent rule in the sixteenth century when the Kingdom of Thomond became an earldom under English sovereignty. It was then that the current boundaries of County Clare were established by the English administration. The line of the O’Briens continued until 1741, when the heirless Henry O’Brien passed away, and his land and title were divided between cousins and nephews, effectively marking the end of Thomond. The whole story is, of course, considerably more complicated and would fill a book of its own, with stories of victory and defeat, politics, heroic deeds and cowardly betrayal. This book has been in the making for almost 30 years, starting with an image of the Burren’s limestone pavement at Poll Salach, made in another millennium with a medium-format camera on slide film. Even after all these years, County Clare is still a special and exciting place to me; I continue to discover new places and always want to revisit the familiar ones. Selecting the images was almost an impossible task. After digging through my archives and ending up with almost a thousand images, I picked a few personal favourites and then decided

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A B OV E : Mullaghmore in winter, Burren National Park.

I n t roduc t ion: A Tou r of Cou n t y ClaR e

TOP : Lough Graney. B O T TOM : Shannon Estuary at Inishmurray Quay. OPP O SI T E : Forest floor, Dromore Nature Reserve.

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I n t roduc t ion: A Tou r of Cou n t y ClaR e

A B OV E : Loop Head.

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I n t roduc t ion: A Tou r of Cou n t y ClaR e