Posts Tagged With: Doonbeg

Doughmore Beach, Co Clare. Walls, Donald Trump, drowned forests and a Man o’ War.

Posted on October 2, 2016 by singersong

paanorama-doonbeg-1

It was Saturday and I was going to stay home and practice fiddle but when I looked out the window I saw blue sky. And you have to take advantage of every such day with the Winter SADS not far away. With Donald Trump on my mind after reading some anlysis of the debate (why do I do this to myself?) I thought I would go and have another look at where he wants to build his new Irish wall.

Doughmore is the location of Donald Trumps Doonbeg Golf resort, It is about ten minutes drive south of my little cottage near Quilty. So you see it’s pretty much my backyard. You follow the signs with the blue squiggly line because the Wild Atlantic Way actually diverts to the beach.

Trump bought the impressive resort and golf course at a knockdown price of $12 million when the then owners were in difficulty. An astute purchase? Of course.

Doonbeg Resort. Golf course tucked behind the dunes

Doonbeg resort complex

For those who are not aware, he now wants to tip 200,000 tonnes of rock along nearly 3 km of the beach (that’s a public beach mind you) to build a massive wall up to 4.5m high to stop erosion of the dunes to protect his golf links. A little bit of science. Erosion of dunes during a storm surge is a natural event. The event that scared Mr Trump happened in February 2014 and the dunes were cut back around 10m. This was a once in a lifetime happening that caused millions of euros of damage all along the Clare, Kerry and Cork coasts. But hey, erosion of dunes is essential for the replenishment of the sand to the beach. It is temporary as the sand returns to the dunes through wind. That’s how the dunes got there in the first place. The Dutch understand this and monitor the normal movement of dunes as a natural barrier to inundation of the lowlands. A rock wall will destroy this continuum. Trump proposes to spend millions to save a couple of greens. Well stiff I say. Spend the euros on new greens and fairways. Leave the beach alone.

Doughmore Beach. Eroded sand dunes. Note rapid partial regeneration.

Doughmore Beach. 200,000 tonnes of rock planned to be tipped against these dunes.

So my visit this day is to see what’s at stake. And see it before it disappeared under a pile of rock.

Oh, and did I say that these dunes are classified as a Special Area of Conservation by the EU.

I was struck immediately by the relatively unspoilt nature of the beach. At the southern end where the resort complex is located is a rock platform, unusual because the shales are steeply dipping unlike most of the Clare coast where the strata is flat lying. From here a beautiful sandy beach stretches around the bay for about 3 km. In the bright sunshine it is stunning. The resort stands proud of course but the golf links is tucked away out of sight. The impression is of pristine wilderness. I found plenty of reasons to leave the beach as it is.

Doughmore Beach. Wide sandy beach at low tide.

Doughmore Beach. View towards the north.

Doughmore Beach. Another view.

It is very wide and predominantly sandy with only a narrow zone of boulders at the base of the dunes as distinct from many beaches in the part of the world which are boulder rich. This day there were many using the beach but paradoxically it seemed empty. Most were just Irish families not people from the resort. I spoke to quite a few. There was a family walking their Labrador, which, by the way, was having the time of his life. Another family, home from Australia, building a sand castle, people walking, jogging and just sitting and staring towards the Cliffs of Moher, visible as clear as a bell in the distance.

Doughmore Beach. Enjoy.

Doughmore Beach. Woof.

Doughmore Beach. Perhaps construction has already started!

There was plenty of bird life. I saw a pair of Oyster Catchers going about their business along the shoreline, there was a Grey Heron and a flock of Mute Swans, really a surprise to see them on the ocean. Could have watched them for hours. A bit of Tchaikovsky would have been perfect. Perfect synchronicity from one pair as they performed a pas de duex for me.

Doughmore Beach. A pair of Oyster Catchers. Looking towards Liscannor and the Cliffs of Moher.

Doughmore Beach. A Grey Heron with the Cliffs in the distance.

Doughmore Beach. Part of a flock of Mute Swans.

Swans at Doughmore. Perfect synchronicity I

Swans at Doughmore. Perfect synchronicity II

Some kind folk pointed out to me a Portuguese Man o’ War washed up on the beach. Alive mind you. A very rare occurrence as they are usually found in warm water in open ocean. A few have been spotted recently along the west coast of Ireland. So there is a bit of an alert out for them. They are related to the famous Australian blue bottle which though not as deadly as the Man o War, stings upwards of 10,000 people on Australian beaches every year. They are a beautiful and fascinating creature. Not actually a jellyfish, they are a colony made up of a number of different specialised individual animals (called zooids or polyps). They are attached to each other and to a bladder which is inflatable. The bladder, which is filled with gas, has intricate patterns etched in pink and the polyps and tentacle are shades of purple and cobalt blue. They have extremely long and venomous tentacles which is for gathering food and defending itself. They are at the mercy of the ocean currents and travel in schools of over 1,000. So keep a lookout. And don’t touch.

Portuguese Man o’ War

Portuguese Man o’ War. Detail of the bladder.

I noticed a small patch of peat exposed on the beach. This part of the beach is littered with old timber and tree stumps and roots. Part of an ancient drowned forest such as was revealed near Spiddal after the February 2014 storms. I’ve seen this before also at Caherush, though that one is now covered over again. Here there is very little of the peat exposed and it is is very narrow (less than a foot thick) and is clearly eroding fast. It sits on a bed of quite soft mudstone which was the original forest soil layer. The stumps with roots attached many in situ and upright with the roots extending into the substrata. Chances are this represents an old forest from around 4-5,000 years ago, most likely inhabited. Most of the stumps appear to have met with a natural end, but I did notice one which had a definite saw cut – evidence of timber harvesting? This is amazing; they had saws back then? I can think of no other explanation. This is a remarkable and unheralded window into the past. Unfortunately it won’t be around long I’m guessing. Not Trump’s fault this one, just the forces of nature.

Doughmore Beach. Part of submerged forest and remains of peat layer. Grey rock underneath the peat is original soil layer of the forest.

Large stump, showing roots.

Doughmore Beach. Ancient tree stump and roots. Peat all washed away.

Possisble sawn tree stump

tree roots

bog timber

I have to go back to that accursed wall. This is not his first attempt. Trump began to dump boulders along the beach soon after purchasing it, without any permits, before Clare County Council intervened and forced him to stop the work. Then he came up with a relatively benign solution which had the support of environmental groups. No this was too namby-pamby. He changed his mind, sacked the very experienced consultant and hired another who would support his now much more drastic proposal. It is currently before Council. Trump firstly applied to bypass the council and declare it a project of national importance (the nerve!). This failed and Clare Council to its credit has initially rejected the application and is seeking more information on 51 questions. This will take many months. Trump’s bullying tactics have so far not helped. We will watch with interest.

I urge everyone who reads this to go visit Doughmore and see for themselves. If you live overseas and intend to visit Ireland, it is a short drive from the Cliffs of Moher and is on the way to the Kilkee cliffs and Loop Head anyway (which should be on your list of must-see places). Hopefully it will all still be there when you come.

Intricate flow patterns of sea grass on an exposed rock platform

Categories: My Journey, Real Ireland, Wild Ireland | Tags: beach, birds, bog timber, Cliffs of Moher, Donald Trump, Doonbeg, Doonbeg resort, Doughmore Beach, drowned forest, golf course, heron, Ireland, oyster catcher, peat bog, photography, Portuguese Man o' War, swan, travel, wall, walls, wilderness | 3 Comments

Joe Cooley and Willie Keane Weekends

Posted on October 29, 2014 by singersong

This is why I am in Ireland!

But I did have a dilemma this last weekend . It was October Bank Holiday weekend and there were two Festivals within striking distance. Solution – go to both.

So Saturday I headed off to the Joe Cooley Weekend at Gort about an hour’s drive from Caherush. Gort is just over the border in Co Galway and a pretty town it is. There is a magnificent monastic ruin just down the road and the home of Lady Gregory nearby. The streets are unusually wide and it is situated around a spacious square with a number of pubs, all within a quick jog of each other. Necessary to avoid the wind and the rain! A perfect place for a Festival.

Where do you start when you arrive at 1:00 pm? Well you park the car and you wind the window down and listen and within moments you hear the strain of fiddles and accordions coming from inside O’Donnell’s Pub. So with my travelling companions, Danny and Nicolle, we headed in and immediately the circle widened to accommodate us. This doesn’t always happen and when it does you know you are in for a good session. It was led by box player Jim, who I am sure is the happiest man in Ireland, smiling and whooping his way through tune after tune and engaging all and sundry in continuous banter, and there were some older players and a good smattering of the next generation. So the music was a great mix and at a good pace. Plates of toasted ham cheese and tomato sandwiches kept arriving and even a special ‘order’ for vegetarian, Nicolle!

Around 3:00 we headed off to Sullivan’s Hotel for the highlight of the programme. This was the attempt on the Guinness World Record for the Largest Irish Band. The record is something around 270 held by nearby Kilfenora in Clare and only set earlier this year. There was palpable excitement as scores of musicians gathered outside the ballroom with their whistles, fiddles, banjos and pipes. Even a cahone (does that count?). Fevered last minute run-throughs of the chosen tunes created a somehow engaging dissonance, much as the expectation created by an orchestra tuning up. There was sheet music for those unsure of how the polkas went.

We all filed in shepherded by hi-vis vested marshals who almost outnumbered us, to take our places in rows of seats laid out for us. It looked like they were expecting around 300. There were cameras and videos including Irish TV there to record the event. Initially there was optimism but as the queues diminished and only half the seats were filled it became apparent to all that this was not to be the day. The scheduled start time of 4.00 pm went, perhaps in an attempt to scour the pubs for more musicians, and finally, it was after 4.30 when an excited announcer surprisingly proclaimed over the microphone “Congratulations! You have broken the record!” Looking at the empty seats I was a bit confused. “The largest Irish band in Connacht!”. There was excited applause as the crowd basked in the glory of being an ‘almost-Guiness World Record’ holder. To confirm the record we of course had to play and after a run through off we went launching into Maggie in the Woods. The sound was fantastic and it was actually quite thrilling to play with such a large ensemble, roughly in time and close enough to being in tune. There was genuine enthusiasm in the playing and in the reception from the assembled crowd, many of them proud parents. Then there were more tunes (not rehearsed!) and even a set dance. Was this the world record for the biggest Ceili Band playing to a set dance? Perhaps just in Connacht! Anyway it was all great crack and we queued up again on the way out to get a certificate to record the Attempt. There’s always next year!

The search resumed for the ‘killer’ session. So back to O’Donnelly’s where there was a new crowd of musicians but equally welcoming and then to Johnny Ward’s. This session was in a separate room with no bar and was as close to a house session as you could get. It was unfortunately marred by an extremely drunk bodhran player, with a Walton’s instrument and while it had a lovely celtic design the music did not match as he proceeded to beat it mercilessly and a whistle player who certainly made his presence felt. I watched as this man, already finding it hard to stand up demolished his next Guinness in two swigs. Despite these ‘distractions’ which contributed to a sometimes messy sound there were moments of absolute magic in the music. Concertina player, Patrick and a couple of box players and a banjo drove the session and I provided the only fiddle – an unusual event. Tunes were played fast but with a real skip which gave the music a lovely rhythmic lift. It was absolutely fantastic to play along with. After this session fizzled and a plate of Taco Chips from Supermac’s there was another great session at Sullivan’s populated mainly by Galway musicians and three hours went so quickly as we cycled through a familiar array of reels and jigs. Bed was very welcome at 3:00am after close to 12 hours of playing.

Sunday morning arrived, with all good intentions to head to the Willie Keane Weekend at Doonbeg (about ten minutes drive to the south of Caherush) in time for the Trad Breakfast, I have to admit the late night proved too much of a barrier and I didn’t get there until 2pm! There was music in four pubs on the main street of the village, famous more for the Donald Trump Resort a couple of kilometres out of town than anything else. But this weekend it was all about the music. Some of the best music you will hear and most of it coming from the unsung and the unheralded. Highlights for me included:

A wonderful set from Tony Linanne and Padraig Mac Doncha (in an Eb session) at Madigan’s, the brilliance of Andrew MacNamara and Mark Donnelly, the surprise packet that was Scaradaragh (a group of Sliabh Luachra musicians from North Cork), just so much fun to play with – bring on those polkas!, the brilliance of the young musicians from Tulla and Kilmaley (Amy & Gearoid McNamara and Yvonne & Pamela Queally, joined by friends including the Murphy sisters from Dublin) and then a great exhibition of sean nos dancing to wind up Sunday night.

On my way home after a fabulous day, I popped into the bar at Tubridy’s to the sight of a table of well primed revellers enjoying the music of Roisin & Conor Broderick and Deirdre Winrow. One of them saw me come in with my fiddle on my back and yelled. “Here he is. I have been reading about you” Taken off guard I asked what she meant. “In the brochure – you’re the fiddler!” They then engaged me in a random conversation in which it became apparent they were down from London for a weekend of golf at the Trump Resort. Luckily they didn’t stay long and on her way out I asked the girl what she meant. She explained that it was me in the programme as a “fiddler’ from 10pm and they were waiting for me. I looked to the corner where Dierdre was quite expertly pumping out a reel on her fiddle and pointed out “but there’s already a fiddler here.” “No” she said in all seriousness “that’s a violinist!” And she retreated with her companions to their five star room in the Lodge at Trumps…..

One other quick anecdote. Sitting, engrossed in my playing at the Igoe Inn (great name!) I felt a hand on my shoulder and a whisper in my ear. “Kevin Crawford” was all she said. I looked around to see a middle aged lady standing over me. “What about him?” I whispered back. [Kevin, of course, is the well know flute player from Lunasa]. “Is he here?” she said seriously. “I haven’t seen him”, was all I could think to say and apparently satisfied she wandered off. I later found out she had done this with every musician in the place! He should be very pleased he has such a devoted fan.

Anyway, home by 1.00 am after another ten hours of almost continuous sessioning on top of the previous day. So I think I put in a good shift. A quiet couple of weeks now but really looking forward to the Ennis Festival coming up. Stay tuned.

Here are some pictures from the weekend. …….