The Pursuit of 32 - Part 1

After living in America for almost a year, and meeting many people who had visited Ireland; it made me realise how much I take my own country for granted.

These people described to me their excitement of visiting the Guiness Factory in Dublin, and the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland. I've been to neither.

Hearing other people's adventures and stories of Ireland, I decided that upon my return; I would make it an objective of mine to visit all corners of Ireland, North and South.

County number one on that list was County Clare to the west of Ireland.

It was planned by Clann Eireann Youth Club, the club I volunteer with; and they were fantastic in the organisation of a great few days.

A four and a half hour journey on a Monday morning isn't typically something that would be enough to convince me to get out of bed. But I gave it a shot!

We arrived in Clare mid afternoon Monday last week; and were staying at the Burren Outdoor Education Centre. It's a great little place; with nice rooms, fantastic staff and a brilliant range of activities.

We did arrive later than expected; meaning we were unable to do an activity that afternoon. Instead, we unpacked, had some food to refuel, and played a little table tennis in the games room.

That evening, Stephen and Dee (our accompanying youth leaders), took us on another drive to the Cliffs of Moher, which was about 45 minutes away.

Once again, the drive wasn't very appealing, but the excitement of visiting the Cliffs was.

When we arrived, we had a look around the museum before making our way to the Cliffs themselves.

The view from either side was beautiful, with the grass waving in the cold breeze.

It was fantastic to visit a place of such natural beauty; and spending a lot of time there just didn't seem to ever feel tedious.

It's very difficult to describe in words or depict in pictures how beautiful the Cliffs were; but I hope to give you an idea through my snaps.

An interesting fact that I learned about the Cliffs was that they were a part of the filming of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. 

You see, there's a little bit of truth in the saying; 'You learn something new every day'.

We spent about an hour at the Cliffs before heading back to the centre; and had a late night playing table tennis and using the common room WiFi!

Awake bright and early the next day; it was time for some activities. We decided on going caving in the Burren, and kayaking early in the morning.

We got kitted out in our kayaking gear; wetsuit and waterproofs and headed off to a lake nearby to get started.

I'm not a lover of water, but kayaking exceeded my expectations and I really enjoyed learning the basics; the fact I didn't capsize was also a bonus!

Luckily the instructor Carmel had a waterproof pouch, so we were able to take a few pictures when we were in shallow water. 

We spent a few hours kayaking before we heading back to the centre to get lunch and get prepared for or second activity of the day; caving! 

Caving; although exciting, was a more nerve wracking activity, and not recommended for those who dislike confined spaces. 

There are roughly 200 caves in the Burren, many much more complex than the one we explored, but we were more than excited with the cave we were in. 

It had tight spaces requiring careful walking, crouching and frequent crawling. This type of activity was not for the faint hearted. 

Equipped with just a helmet and a flashlight, we had to rely on each others words of encouragement and trust.

At one point, we did an activity in which ever one had to turn off their helmet flashlight, and hold the person in front of them on the shoulder. It was a great team bonding activity despite us playing pranks on each other.

The photo above was at the widest part of the cave; and I can assure you it was a tight squeeze for the majority of the time. 

It was a great experience, and the caves are one of the natural wonders of Ireland. I would love to go back again some day and try to tackle some of the tougher routes.

That evening, we decided to take a a drive to another wonderful site in Clare, Poulnabrone Dolmen.

Poulnabrone Dolmen consists of a twelve-foot, thin, slab-like, tabular capstone supported by two slender portal stones. 

A crack was discovered in one of the portal stones in 1985. Excavations during that time found that between 16 and 22 adults and six children were buried under the monument. 

The attraction draws a lot of visitors; and we had a great time learning more about the site while we were there. 

After heading back to the centre, we all decided on an early night before our long trip home on Wednesday morning.

We did have an early start on Wednesday though; and still had another activity. 

We were able to go rock climbing closeby; which meant no long journey to our destination. 

We were equipped with helmets and harnesses, and got stuck in; climbing up a rocky hill to then strapping ourselves in to our harnesses and auditioning for the next Spiderman movie by climbing up steep rock walls.

We had three different attempts, each getting more difficult as we went along.

It was another activity that was not for the faint hearted; especially because you had to trust your friends to keep you safe on tour harness and rope.

Additionally, it was another great team bonding activity that brought us all a little closer.

As a whole, I'm absolutely delighted with chalking the first county off my list of 32. 

I had a fantastic time in County Clare, and was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

I would like to ensure that I express my thanks to Clann Eireann Youth Club for providing me with the opportunity to participate in this; as well as the staff at the Burren Outdoor Education Centre, who were gracious and extremely accommodating! 

One County Down, only 31 to go.