Poulnabrone sunset with whitethorn tree © Marty Johnston
By the same author:
Bookshops of Belfast
Irish Shores: A Journey Round the Rim of Ireland
Jan Morris: A Critical Study
The Height of Nonsense: The Ultimate Irish Road Trip
Jan Morris: Around the World in Eighty Years (editor)
Catch a clear spring evening around half-past nine and you will be enchanted by one of the strangest of all effects that the Burren affords: a delicate, pale pink hue creeping imperceptibly across the rocks, rouging them with sunset. It is a lustrous salmon-tinted glow that settles for a few magical minutes as a long banner of pink on the higher terracing of the hills and sometimes on the limestone plateau. Visitors coming across this spectacle gasp in amazement, holding their breath in wonder. Some people call it ‘purple-pink’ and it even veers towards lavender. The atmosphere is diffusely illuminated as evening light and the pink coming off the clouds drenches the landscape. Such a wistful moment, although lasting briefly, holds mystery; it is logged in my cerebral files.
FIRST PUBLISHED IN PRINT FORMAT 2011 BY
The Collins Press
West Link Park
Doughcloyne
Wilton
Cork
© Paul Clements 2011
Paul Clements has asserted his moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
All rights reserved.
The material in this publication is protected by copyright law. Except as may be permitted by law, no part of the material may be reproduced (including by storage in a retrieval system) or transmitted in any form or by any means, adapted, rented or lent without the written permission of the copyright owners. Applications for permissions should be addressed to the publisher.
EPUB eBook ISBN: 9781848899391
mobi eBook ISBN: 9781848899407
Paperback ISBN-13: 9781848891173
Typesetting by The Collins Press
Typeset in Adobe Garamond 11 pt
Cover photographs
Front: Sheshymore limestone pavement; Back: The Flaggy Shore
Both © Marty Johnston
Burren Country Page 23