Sitting in the car at Dun na Mbo – on the northwest coast of Ireland -waiting for the rain to pause. I was able to stand on the edge, get a few sketches done then back in the car to warm my hands. Although the cliff is 40 meters above the sea, you can regularly get drenched in spray. When the waves crash against the cliff, the sea water is pushed upward and outward through a blowhole right next to where I was standing. All your senses are on alert with the sea crashing, the sound of the water in the blowhole - and, then the call of wild geese flying overhead. You have no choice but to embrace this Irish magical moment.
One of my sketches
Drove over to Erris Head (Gailic name is Ceann Lorris) for more sketching. I had visited these cliffs last year and found them fascinating in their winter color - a part of the Atlantic Wild Way, There are still signs of summer tourists with rental equipment trucks and porta johns standing quietly waiting for another season of warm weather. I am thankful to have these majestic rocks and sea all to myself.
In the 1930’s, Irish naturalist R L Preager spent time at Erris Head and described it as “the wildest. loneliest stretch of country to be found in all of Ireland-the illimitable silver sea, savage coastline, booming waves.”
It is rather haunting with is north-facing cliffs- some of the most exposed in the country
