If you have been reading my articles in the past you will realise that I live just forty minutes drive from the Burren, one of the most unique and beautiful places in the whole country. But it was not for its beauty alone that I was making this visit. This was another quest in search of the white Gentiana verna. This plant is said to grow somewhere in the vicinity of blackhead just outside the village of Ballyvaughan on the shores of Galway bay.
As Sunday morning dawned bright and sunny and the good weather that had prevailed for the past two weeks set to continue, it was time to make tracks before the Gentian's had all perspired with the heat.
Flasks were hurriedly filled and sandwiches prepared as my wife and son were to accompany me on the trip. The wife for company in the car and the son to scale the high points that might be inaccessible to me.
The plan was to leave early and take the direct route thus avoiding day-trippers on their way to the various beaches. This route brought us through Ennis, unto the Lahinch road, and then a right turn, unto the Lisdoonvarna road.
There was little or no traffic on this road apart from a sponsored cycle race that we encountered about the halfway mark. Once in Lisdoonvarna the road branches to the left towards the coast and about two miles down this road the whole vista of the Burren opens out in front of you. It is a most spectacular sight if you are seeing it for the first time.
As we have seen it on numerous occasions no one uttered a word about the view apart from a comment from my son about a fishing boat that was very close the rocks.
The first stop was just a few hundred yards down the road, in a place that we have always visited for the past twenty-five years, and presents a good view of the Aran Islands. This spot never fails to reveal something different on each occasion.
We were much too early for the vast majority of the flowers that adorn this lovely spot, but the sea pink,(Armeria maritima) and sea campion(Silene maritima) were in full bloom. The nearer we got to the shore the more abundant they were.
