Newfoundland - Avalon Peninsula

 This is my third trip to Newfoundland and this time I'm focusing on only three places - Cape St. Mary's for the gannets, Elliston for the puffins and Fogo Island.   

Cape St. Mary's is at the southwestern tip of the Avalon peninsula, about 2 hours' drive from St. John's, but we made a detour to Bay Bulls on the east coast after arriving in St. John's early afternoon.  It was late June and the days were long so we were able to fit in a boat tour with Gatherall's in search of whales and puffins.  Bay Bulls is right next to the important Witless Bay Ecological Reserve.  There were quite a few whale sightings but nothing spectacular and except for a few in the water, the puffins were too far away for any meaningful shots.  It was cold on the boat but glad it was the only time I had to wear my packable down on the whole trip.

Humpback whales

Humpback with cub

Puffin flying over water

Plenty of Common Murres around

The colourful Gatherall's office

The one shot I got of Bay Bulls from the boat

 

We headed to St. Bride's with its one and only lodging, Capeway Inn which turned out to be a very nice well-equipped boutique establishment. Cape St. Mary's is only a 20 minute drive from St. Bride's and Bird Island, where the gannets are, was just a short 1.4 km hike from the parking lot.  We were lucky the island was not covered in fog as it was the last time I was there.  We spent a whole morning and part of the afternoon watching the gannets going about their business.  It was quite productive as you can see from the photos.  

Word of caution: bring some ready made food to St. Bride's.  We arrived too late for dinner as the one and only restaurant closed at 7 (we were lucky we had anticipated that and bought a roast chicken with us).  The following day we arrived at the restaurant at 5:30 and was told it closes at 5pm on Tuesdays.  The one convenience store was not open.  Good thing it was a big chicken!

The Cape St. Mary's headland with Bird Island (covered in white)

Closeup of Bird Island

Affectionate gannet couples

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Bickering ones too...

Bringing back nesting material

Other than these two stops and drive through impressions of small towns on the way, we didn't see much else on the Avalon Peninsula so can't really say I am providing a good picture of the Peninsula.  I am sure there are lots more to it than gannets and whales!

The following day we drove up the peninsula to Bona Vista in the rain - no problem for a travelling day. There were a few lookouts along the way - one that stood out was Seven Islands lookout off the Cape Shore Highway. Otherwise the four hour drive to Elliston was mostly flat.

Ireland - Cliffs of Moher and Galway

The Cliffs of Moher is of course the highlight of every Ireland tour.  I had always wondered why.  It is an impressive landscape with its rugged cliff face and layers of sequenced cliffs.  It matters a lot if the sun was on the cliffs when you visit.  When we visited, it was a dark cloudy day and it didn't really do the cliffs justice.  We took a cruise to see the cliffs from the water and they were quite dramatic but not quite the national icon I had expected it to be.  Timing is everything.

I was in fact more fascinated by what little we saw of the Burren before we got to the Cliffs of Moher.  The glacier karst landscape was unique, looking barren from afar but in fact teeming with life when you look closer.  We didn't spend a lot of time here as the guide wanted us to get to the cruise early.  As it turned out, we got to Doolin too early - I would gladly have spent more time on the Burren, a landscape unique to this area.  See for yourself.

Parts of the Burren

A pretty donkey eating its way along the river - like a prop

A picturesque stream behind the village of Doolin

Cruise boat approaching the first headland

The rugged cliff face and a closer view

Layer upon layer of cliffs

Intriguing rock formations at the foot of the cliffs

The cliffs are teeming with bird life, both on the cliffs and in the surrounding waters.  I didn't have my birding lens with me but did the best I could with my 240mm zoom - bit of a joke.

A razorbill in flight

A puffin!

Common murre

This one has two fish in its beak!

A lone puffin among the razorbills

Leaving behind the cliffs

From the Cliffs we headed back to Galway, a vibrant town with lots of music.  The day before we had a walking tour of the town with its colourful, touristy streets.

Eyre Square at the centre of town

Cathedral of Our Lady Assumed in Heaven & St. Nicholas

One of several rose windows in the Cathedral

A Norman castle inside a mall

The River Comb

The estuary

A pretty black-headed gull by the river

Colourful streets of Galway

From Galway, we headed back to Dublin with a stop in the "Tidy Town" of Kinvarra with its own Dunguaire Castle and a picturesque waterfront.

Kinvarra waterfront

Dunguaire Castle 

Our last stop before Dublin was Athlone with its Athlone Castle.  There is not much castle inside, more of a museum.  The most interesting thing was this sandstone slab bearing an elaborate ringed cross with the depiction of St. Mark and St. Luke on either side of the ring.  It's supposed to be the most elaborate surviving commemorative stone of the Irish Early Christian period.

The photogenic accordion player outside the castle

View from the bridge in Athlone

Town of Athlone

 

This wraps up my tour of Ireland. Northern Ireland and the Atlantic Coast was supposed to follow but I have to cancel that segment at the last minute to return home.  The Wild Atlantic Way will have to wait for another trip.  Thank you for coming along.