Day 99: The Burren

Day 99 - Friday, July 13th 2018: Burren to Fanore 23 km / Total 2048 km, 22°C, sunny

In the morning, the traffic wasn't too busy. Well, it was, but as people were going the same way as me, I wasn't facing it. But when a car was coming I still had to throw myself into the hedge of brambles, which were full of spider webs since there's no rain to destroy them anymore, and I tried to not scratch myself.

Just before Ballyvaughan, the Garda (Irish police) asked me to stop, because a cycling race was coming. It made me think of the Tour de France. And I wonder if the same thing exists here in Ireland?

In Ballyvaughan, I discovered there was camping four kilometres after Black Head where I planned to stop for the day. Ok so let's walk four more kilometres than expected. But the coast road was really beautiful. I had a great view of Galway Bay and could see there was a big bush fire near Galway, with very big smoke. The grass is so dry in the area that just a cigarette throw on it could start a fire.

The Burren really is a moon landscape. Someone told Cromwell that here, there were not enough trees to hang a man, not enough water to drown him, and not enough land to bury him. About the water, at the moment, I do agree. Not enough trees, well near Ballyvaughan there are some, so, since Cromwell things have improved I guess. Not enough land ... Well, I saw a cemetery, so how did they dig the graves?

Finally, it's a good thing that I found camping for the night because I really wonder how I would put my tent on this rocky ground. The specificity of the Burren (which is now a Geopark protected by the UNESCO) is the flora growing up between the rocks, Mediterranean Flora and Alpine-arctic flora. At least it's suitable enough for the sheep to live here and eat it.

The camping in Fanore is normally crossed by a river. The owner showed me a picture of that wild river. What I saw outside were only rocks. The river is drained. He told me it's the first time in forty years he saw the river like that for so long.