Doolin is a small village on the west coast of
Ireland in
County Clare. There is one church
one camping ground two youth hostels and four pubs.
Oh yeah there are some houses and a few cows as well.
There is also one chip shop.
One of the two youth hostels is called
the rainbow hostel and it is very nice. The owner is a member of Sea Cliff rescue team. They need a sea cliff
rescue team because Doolin is the closest inhabitation to
the Cliffs of Moher.
I am a little unclear as to the status of the
Cliffs of Moher. Some people say that they
are the highest sea cliffs in western Europe
but I believe that this title belongs to some sea cliffs
on the Isle of St Kilda which is a part of the
Scottish archipeligo. Perhaps the cliffs of Moher
are the largest sea cliffs belonging to a mianland country
rather than a detached bit of a country. In any case the
cliffs themselves don't mind and are incredibbly impressive.
Many of you will have seen them as they were used as the cliffs of insanity in the film The princess bride, but back to Doolin.
The church has a secret passage that leads underground to
the coast. It used to be used by smugglers. The entire
area is a Karst area. That means limestone. In
fact it is the second largest limestone plane in Europe.
The largest is in eastern Europe and is called Karst.
The Burren is the name of the region that Doolin is in.
I guess had the Burren been bigger than Karst then
Karst would be known as a Burren region !.
All of this limestone means that the ground is like swiss
cheese.
Not far from Doolin there is a cave which contains the
second largest stacletight in world. This was told to me
by the local taxi driver. He also plays in one of the bands in one of the pubs. He used to be a caver untill he lost one of his legs in an accident. This one legged taxi driver,
when not hanging out in Doolin, is a lecturer in electrical
engineering back in Dublin. By his own account he prefers
the life in the West.
All of the pubs serve tremendous Guinness. It is
really fantastic. Only one of the pubs is next to the chip
shop and it is this one i reccomend. You will often see
scruffy poor climbers sitting outside on a night.
If you do buy them a pint, they will appreciate it.
You can get to Doolin from Dublin by public bus.
The ticket costs about 25 pounds return if you are a student.
Ireland is a small country and if you travel for
more than 250 kilometers in any direction from any other
you will fall off the edge. In spite of this
the bus journey takes about 12 hours. This
is due to the fractal nature of the road network in Ireland.
The fractal dimension increases as you move westward.
When in Doolin do stay at the rainbow youth hostel,
do become friends with the one legged taxi driver,
don't drink half a bottle of whiskey, no matter how good it is, don't expect to score with any of the numerous
cute European travellers that frequent the place,
don't be offended when asked "how's it hanging?"
in the gents toilets, do go and look at the cliffs of moher.