Burren the Unexpected

Photo credit: Juxxtapose

Our most unexpected find throughout the trip was the lunar landscape of the Burren.It was described in our itinerary as ‘one of the most unusual limestone surfaces anywhere’, and it is reputed to be the only place on Earth where Arctic, Alpine and Mediterranean flowers grow side by side. Itinerary descriptions tend to exaggerate with flowery descriptions, and to be honest I didn’t I’d be able to tell Arctic flowers from Alpine flowers from Mediterranean flowers. (Did I even notice any flowers? Hmm, maybe it was the wrong season)

Regardless, the vast rugged landscape of nothingness was unexpected, as in unexpectedly jaw-droppingly surreal. And at the end of it, it just drops off into the sea, with waves splashing up against the walls of rock.

Natural landscape wise, I’d say, definitely one of the best and most interesting I’ve seen.

Before the Rain Came

In my previous post, I told you about how it started pouring on our trip to the Ring of Kerry. Well, before that, we saw one of the most beautiful landscapes we saw on our trip.

Photo credit: Juxxtapose

Bur first, in front of that, was the prettiest, most nonchalant dog, lounging on an Irish donkey. Can’t decide which of the two animals I liked more. I imagine them thinking: Oh, another one of those green buses. We’re going to get those rectangular gadgets shoved in our faces again. We’re such superstars, obviously more worthy than the supposedly stunning valley behind us. Totally embodying the definition of self-assured.

The trouble is, I don’t even know which valley this is. It had a babbling brook running through it, and looked so peaceful and happy.

Photo credit: Juxxtapose

I’m finding it hard to put to words what we saw. The photos don’t seem to do the place justice. Perhaps we remember how we felt as we stepped out in front of it more than the details of the place itself, and that memory alters the reality behind the memory we store in our minds.

We don’t remember the details. We remember how we felt when it happened.

Every Photograph Tells A Story

Photo credit: Juxxtapose

Just as flaws make each person unique, imperfect photographs tell their own story.

I know you can hardly see anything in this photo. You may be able to make out the faint outline of the coast, and a little blob of land off the said coast. But it wasn’t the camera that got it wrong. In fact, this might have been even more than what we could see with our naked eyes at that time. We still took this shot anyway. Because of the story behind the shot.

It was a typical summer day in Cork, the wet kind, not the sunny kind. We went on the trip out to the Ring of Kerry, and in the morning, the weather was still dry despite the gathering dark clouds. After lunch though, the rain started coming down. Our driver could barely see the road in front of him, although he claimed it wasn’t the worst weather he had driven in. We were on a coastal road without the luxury of the coastal views. Many people in the tour group started to nod off because there was just nothing to see. The road was narrow, only allowing for the width of 2 vehicles, one in each direction. We came to a part of the road where it widened into what looked like a parking lot at the edge of the slope. Our driver pulled his bus into the lot, stopped, and asked if anyone wanted to go down for a look. I’m guessing that was a planned viewpoint as part of the tour we were on. Nobody moved. ‘No, nobody?’, he asked again. I scrambled to get up. It was raining, and the views are mostly occluded by the mist from the rain. But wasn’t that part of the experience?

The hubs and I prepared our jackets and scarfs, positioned our cameras so that it would get as little rain as possible, and bravely stepped off the bus. When the rain hit me, it felt light and cool, like the face mist you spray on your faces to refresh yourself. My initial thought was, ‘Hey it isn’t really raining, it’s just mist!’ Okay, but I was wrong. It was raining and it was cold. Against the strong wind, we trudged toward the edge of the parking lot (where we took the photo above) and we stared down at what looked like nothing but mist. The wind was so strong that we were careful not to stand too near the edge in case we got blown off. When we eventually turned back, we saw that a few other ‘brave souls’ had decided to venture off the bus too. And despite being wet and cold, we all had silly grins on our faces, as though we were doing something cheeky and novel.

I’m glad we decided to just go for it, even though, logically, there was no point because there were no grand views (which was probably what the other passengers thought). Because now we get to keep this little experience and memory with us.

And this is the story this ‘flawed’ photograph tells.