The limestone pavement
Deep cracks where flowers grow.
Gunther Tschuch — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Limnoporus — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Gunther Tschuch — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Gunther Tschuch — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Gunther Tschuch — CC BY-SA 4.0 · The Banner — CC BY-SA 3.0
Burren National Park is the smallest of Ireland's national parks, covering 1,500 hectares of the karst landscape of the Burren in County Clare. Run by the National Parks and Wildlife Service, it brings together mountains, lakes, bogs, grassland and forest on grey limestone ground that looks closer to the surface of another planet. The park opened to the public in 1991 and is a small part of the wider Burren, which forms a recognised geopark with the Cliffs of Moher. The name comes from Irish and means a rocky place. In the park you can see an old route known as a famine road, running between rock walls. You walk over wide pavements of limestone cut by deep cracks, where grass and small flowers grow. Mullaghmore rises with its rippling layers, shallow lakes lie around it, and there is a patch of Scots pine on bare rock. The area brings together plants of different habitats, at their best in spring and early summer, so take your time looking at the ground. The park is 12.4 km in a straight line north of Ennis and 36.2 km south of Galway. Services inside are few, so bring food and water. The rock is slippery when wet and the cracks can hurt a foot, so wear good closed shoes. Follow the marked routes, and do not move stones or pick flowers.
Deep cracks where flowers grow.
An old route between rock walls.
Trees on a bare rock top.
South-east of the Burren, County Clare
They are best in spring and early summer, but the stone is fine all year.
Food, water and good closed shoes, as services are few and the rock uneven.