009 Mysteries of the Burren - with Tony Kirby

The burren – County Clare

 

The Burren in west County Clare is our featured destination in this podcast.  Entire books are written about this 200 acres of rocky limestone that borders the Atlantic Ocean. It’s a landscape of myths and legends and sacred ground with archaeological remnants that date back thousands of years. It’s also a landscape of contrasts – the gray rock against the blue sky, mountains and hills that rise out of a seemingly endless flat bedrock. The contrasts are particularly powerful in the spring when the flowers of the Burren come into bloom.  Tiny little orchids pop up in between the slabs of limestone

 

Most people who visit the Burren drive through and stop at the most famous locations such as the Poulnabrone dolmen or the Burren Perfumery. They take the obligatory photo of Lamanegh Castle and maybe stop at Corcomroe Abbey. 

 

The Buren is a sacred landscape.  The poet and philosopher, John O’Donohue, who was from the Burren region said of the Burren:

It’s a bare limestone landscape. And I often think that the forms of the limestone are so abstract and aesthetic, it is as if they were all laid down by some wild surrealistic kind of deity. Being a child and coming out into that, it was like a huge wild invitation to extend your imagination.

Quote extracted from the Onbeing podcast – March 18, 2016

I can’t even count the number of times I’ve been to the Burren. On my first trip to Ireland, I had no role in planning the itinerary. I simply went along with friends who’d invited me and enjoyed the sites they chose.  I can recall my friend, Hal McConnell – a great mystic with a brilliant and the planner of our Ireland tour saying, “Now, we’ll enter a mystical landscape – the Burren where everything seems harsh and stark, but there’s an underlying sacredness about the place.

 

Though you can catch glimpses of the highlights by driving through, a better experience is to walk the Burren. Get out into the landscape and place yourself in that sacred space.  It’s so worth stopping, moving, absorbing that special energy unique to the Burren.

 

Or better yet, treat yourself to a walking tour led by a guide who knows his or her way around and can reveal parts of the landscape you won’t be able to see on your own.  Our favorite Burren tour guide is Tony Kirby. And he’s our guest on this podcast.

 

Interview with Tony Kirby

 

Tony Kirby is full time tour operator offering walking tours through the Burren. He’s been offering these tours for 15 years through his company, Heart of the Burren Walking Tours

www.heartofburrenwalks.com

Tony Kirby Facebook Page

The Burren and the Aran Islands: A Walking Guide by Tony Kirby

Tony comments about the Burren that it is a rare global landform – limestone pavement. Of world importance botanically for its unique mélange of wild flowers. Exceedingly rich cultural (archaeological) landscape – “a vast memorial to bygone cultures” with a 6,000-year-old story of low-scale pastoralism.

The Burren’s natural and cultural landscape is home to much legend and mythology.
 His favorite site in the Burren is St Colmán’s Hermitage – a mainland equivalent of Skellig Michael. A hermitage of Early Christian origin set in mature forest at the base of the region’s sheerest cliff. Rich in legend of the Saint Colmán.

The Burren (200 sq miles) i