The word ‘Burren’ comes from an Irish word ‘Boíreann’
meaning a rocky place.
We came to the Burren about a week into our tour of Ireland. We had seen many fine things by then — Belfast’s streets, Derry’s walls, sacred hilltop sites (from neolithic burial sites to medieval cathedrals) — and oodles of the rolling green hills for which Ireland is justly famous. All wonderful stuff.
The Burren — an area dominated by exposed limestone rock — was the first place I could see myself living.
There is something magnificently primeval about the Burren. No, I couldn’t live there, I don’t think, but it clutches me by the heart every time, just the same.
Jim T
Jim – Maybe just a regular visit, then. 🙂
Isabel
On the one hand barren….on the other hand beautiful.
Tom
Tom – Yes, quite strikingly beautiful, at least on a blue-sky day. Not sure it would be so appealing in overcast or rainy conditions . . .
Thanks for this glimpse of the rocky Ireland. It does have some resemblance to Labrador, but I am not sure that is geologically true.
Judith – It might well be. We didn’t get any geological lectures, but I know that the crust/mantle divide in Gros Morne is also found in Scotland, so there could be a connection. That might have to wait for my next trip. 🙂