Guest Author - Tracey

The Burren is a wild and untamed place full of myth and mystery. It lies south of Galway in County Clare, Ireland, and is an area of about 150 square miles.
The Burren is bordered to the west by the Atlantic Ocean and Galway Bay and is tucked in the north-west corner of Clare.

A unique geological outcropping of the ice age which has occurred in only a few places on earth.
The name Burren is from the Irish - bhoireann meaning a stony place.
It is known as Europes largest rock garden, where you can see plants from the cold arctic, the high Alps and the warm Mediterranean growing side by side.

It is unique in more ways than one. It is a habitat for wild animals such as the rare Pinemartin, unusual birds, strange butterflies and moths, vanishing lakes, underground rivers, weird shaped stones, stoneforts, dolmens, many old churches and miles of caves.

In the Burren one can find magnificent monuments, such as the dolmen at Poulnabrone, which indicates that people lived here up to over 5,000 years before Christ.
One can also find castles, churches and crosses.
The Burren has about 20 churches, some very small such as the one in Oughtmanna, others large such as Kilfenora.

There are 35 miles of caves, these caves were formed in the last 20,000 years and as such are very young caves. The most famous of these caves is the Aillwee Cave.

The Burren appears at first as a bleak contrast to rest of Ireland.
Having been largely denuded of soil by glaciation and also by farming activities from the Neolithic onwards. But closer examination reveals the beautiful diversity of flora for which the whole region has justly become famous.
Growing in the thin soils and from crevices in the stone one can find an abundance plants which are usually considered rare.
Spring Gentian is readily abundant. The creamy petals of Mountain Avens is just one of many different varieties of unusual plants which thrive in the Burren. The Mountain Avens is most definitely an Alpine species yet here it can be found growing beside the Dense Flowered Orchid, which is generally found in the Mediterranean.

Mullaghmore

The area around Mullaghmore is widely recognised as one of the most floristically interesting and diverse parts of the Burren. The Irish Wildlife Service had plans to designate the area as a National Nature Reserve. It should form part of the core area of the Burren National Park. Apart from the partially completed National Park interpretative centre it is largely undisturbed.

The Ailwee Caves

Nestling within the Burren, and lying just 4 miles from Ballyvaughan, are the Aillwee Caves. These were discovered in the 1940's by a local farmer. Remains of brown bears and indentations of the bear pits were discovered not far from the entrance. Bears have been extinct in Ireland for thousands of years.

Kinvara

This sleepy little village plays host to two of Galway's great festivals. In May is the cuckoo festival and in August is Crinnui na Mbad - the sailing festival.

Kinvarra

On the outskirts of town stands Dunguaire Castle. It was built in the 16th. century but is said to be on the site of the 7th. century stronghold of Dunguaire, one of the Kings of Connaught. Today the castle transforms life to the 1500's, and produces wonderful banquets.



Cromwell’s brother-in-law, General Ludlow, in 1650 wrote of the Burren, during his tour of Clare and described it as follows: “This is a country where there is not enough water to drown a man, wood enough to hang him, nor earth enough to bury him, which is so scarce that the inhabitants steal it from one another and yet, their cattle are very fat, for the grass growing in tufts of earth of two or three feet square that lie between the rocks which are of limestone, is very sweet and nourishing”.

If your making your vacation/holiday plans, dont miss a trip to this wonderful area.