The featured image above shows lots of birds over Cullaughan Lake on a misty morning.
On the map below, you’ll find County Clare, North of Cork and Limerick, Cork being close to the South coast. My photos shown here are all of East Clare. County Clare borders the Atlantic Ocean in the West of Ireland.
green fields – rolling hills – little rivers – bridges
cows – lakes – boats – old castles – pubs – churches – high crosses
One of the very typical orangey-brown cows in a field looking down on everyone.
Big skies and clouds, rolling hills, fields, trees.
This is a main road into an East Clare village on a nice day in winter showing the typical limestone walls. They are everywhere, separating the fields from each other and from the roads. Usually, there are small gaps for the farmers to get into the fields but far too small for the animals to get out. However, the animals find other escape routes sometimes…
This is just down the road shown in the last photo. The little cottage is unoccupied. Must be February or March as there are some daffodils. The country is flooded with them in spring.
This church was restored and repurposed into a Cultural Centre. There are yoga classes, art exhibitions, concerts and more, all in the same village as above.
There are lots of these castles dotted around the country. They all look similar but are in various states of decay. Some are restored and the owners try to earn some money with them because the upkeep is expensive. Mostly, no one lives in them, restored or not, as they are hard to get warm.
An Irish Inn, providing more culture and night life like e.g. Irish dancing sessions (think of River Dance). There are lots of these pubs. Every village normally has a good few of them. There is no village without a pub. Occasionally, there is a pub without a village.
There is a village near the River Shannon where there is no shop or anything but there is a pub.
You gotta get your priorities right! Right?
This is quite a famous tourist site. In summer, bus loads of tourist come along to have a look around the old convent. Decades ago, it was basically in ruins but it has been restored over the years. These days people have to pay to get in. It is definitely worth going in. Quin is a picturesque little village with pubs (of course!) and a restaurant. For more entertainment, Ennis is only about 15 minutes up the road by car.
There is a boat house nearby and a ramp to let the boats into the water. So you basically feel like being “in” the water standing there. Beautiful place. No boat hire here.
However, boats are for hire in Mountshannon, even pedal boats, which is another really picturesque little village right at the shores of Lough Derg on the East Clare side. It’s a proper tourist spot but there are also year round art activities going on. Well worth a visit.
Another view of the East Clare Hills, here on a frosty evening, with a dusting of snow on the hills and an absolutely gorgeous pink, blue and purple sky. Cloud-free!
It is close to impossible to see much if anything at night time unless there is a full moon as there are no street lights except in the villages.
There are a lot of hedges along the country lanes. They are being cut with big hedge cutting machines by the council between October and March. Otherwise they would take over the roads, if not the country. They would!!!
High Crosses against a Blue Sky on a graveyard on top of a hill.
Very windy place. At least some high crosses are on most graveyards, especially the bigger ones.
Also you could find grave stones dating back to 1798 although these would be rare. More likely there are graves from the 19th century to be found. They are a bit mixed up with the latest ones but who cares. Often enough the cows come close enough to eat the grass. So there are lots of visitors.
This is spring time. In the middle ground, there is a church ruin and next to it, on the right, is a graveyard that is still in use. It is about 1 km down from the view point. The reddish area across just below the ruin consists of budding birches. In the front area are grasses.
Another church, as they are really part of the landscape. This is a beautiful one, with the river right next to it, trees and fields around and the hills in the background. Typical Ireland!
Plenty of buttercups and other wild flowers around that time of year.
This is the idyllic countryside of East Clare. Coming up you’ll find images of Killaloe area, Ennis and Limerick and more.
All images ©ArtHenning
Hope you enjoyed the watery views of East Clare.
Cheers, Bridget
For more views of beautiful Ireland try these:
https://www.pinterest.ie/arthenning/the-other-side-of-clare-in-photos/
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