Three Brilliant Days - a Travelogue of Ireland

Article: Three Brilliant Irish Days

by Dr. Sam Couch
Owner, Rising Road Tours

It was the rainiest summer in recent Irish memory. The bogs were so sodden one literally bounced when walking across them. Cattle had to be removed from summer fields and returned to winter barns so the pastures would not be destroyed. Two-thirds of the summer fruit crop was lost to mold and mildew.

This was the backdrop for the a summer trip with nine interested, adventurous and intrepid college students who learned and taught throughout the program. Most of the June and July days were rainy and windy for at least a portion of the day. Committed to experiencing Irish language and culture first-hand, these students met and overcame all the challenges the unusual Irish weather presented.

What I'd like to share are memories of three magical days when the clouds parted for us. In the Irish idiom, these days would be described as "brilliant" because they approached perfection.

One of our adventures led us to the Cliffs of Moher, a "must see" for many visitors to the west coast of Ireland. As we drove from our temporary home in Co. Galway across Clare, the day was rainy, windy, and cold. Nearing the cliffs, a fogbank clouded all views of the countryside. When we arrived at the cliffs, rain pelted the vans and the hoped-for vistas were shrouded in deep fog. Having driven for several hours, we were hesitant to abandon our quest; so, after eating our boxed lunches in the vans, we decided to wander through the fog to the reputed location of the cliffs. After about fifteen minutes on the cliff's edge, the fog slowly began to head seaward. The curtain of mist drew back slowly to reveal the spectacular seacliffs. For our biology field classes the scenic cliffs provided opportunities for us to observe nesting seabirds firsthand. Of particular interest were colonies of puffins just below a precipitous drop near our vantage point. The fog moved away only briefly; it moved out to sea for only about one-half hour, and then tiptoed back in to shroud the cliffs in mist.

Our second brilliant day started out with a trip to the heart of Connemara. The scheduled field trip for the day was to hike through Connemara National Park. That morning I remembered a footnote in a geology text that gave directions to an abandoned marble quarry in the region. Thinking this would provide a much greater adventure than trekking over managed trails in a national park, I decided to alter our schedule that day and seek out this mine. This day was one of the first sunny days we encountered in Ireland. Our first stop was a small pub isolated about halfway between Maam and Maam's Cross in east central Galway. Here we stood in a valley dwarfed by the Twelve Bens in the west and the Maamturk Mountains in the east. These mountains brought to life our geology lectures about orogenies or mountain-building episodes. To the east we saw evidence of faulting, folding, and thrusting — tectonic activities that shape mountains. To the west we saw exposed Dalradian rocks, the oldest known rocks on our planet. Leaving the pub, we crossed a fence stile and wandered through the bog toward a nearby lake. Crossing the first hill, we noticed rusting machinery and a few abandoned, roofless rock buildings. We walked around the perimeter of the lake toward these structures. To our great delight, we had located the abandoned quarry. Students gathered small pieces of Connemara marble to take back to family and friends. One student noted that the lake, the surrounding trees, and mountains reminded her of pictures of the Alaska wilderness. Included in this adventure were lectures on local flora and fauna; we even located some carnivorous plants in the bog.

The third brilliant day was really a gift from the students to the professors. After several days of lecturing on the unique geology and microflora of the Burren, the professors decided to let the students teach the concepts they had learned in the field. On a rather gray morning, we headed toward the southern coast of Galway Bay for a ferry ride to Inis Mhean, the middle of the Aran Islands. As we approached the island, the sky cleared and the sun shone brightly. This was one of those rare Irish days when a person can become sunburned. The students were in charge of all lectures that day. They did a remarkable job of teaching us about the island limestone pavement - remnants of an ancient seabed; prehistoric megalithic wedge tombs; an Iron Age ring fort; sites associated with J.M. Synge, Irish writer and playwright, who spent several years on the island; and the local industries and crafts. It truly was a growing experience as the students passed on information they had recently learned. I am happy to report they did an excellent job. (As an added bonus, we all got sunburned — a rare occurrence in Ireland.)

In my many years of travel to Ireland as a student, tour guide, and teacher, I have not encountered a more dedicated, eager, inquisitive, and talented group of young people than this student group. It was a privilege to play a small part in introducing them to other worlds and cultures. We had many more brilliant days with this outstanding group of young people.

Rising Road Tours
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