Cliffs at Downpatrick Head

Although I traveled quite a distance to get to Downpatrick Head, I was in a hurry to leave the place. The weather was miserable and it was really terrible conditions for photography. I can see that there are also other visitors here but they don’t seem to be enjoying it either. There were a few interesting spots here like the natural blowhole and the church ruins. Probably the most interesting part of the Downpatrick Head are the cliffs here. I have seen more than my fair share of cliffs in Ireland and I think they are quite amazing to see. I was wondering what is so different about the cliffs here.

Immediately, you can see that the cliff faces are layered, almost too perfectly. This is thousands or even millions of years of sediment deposited one on top of the other. The constant erosion by the ocean exposed parts of the cliff which we now see today. Additionally, just off the coast, you can see a sea stack which is basically a piece of land which is still stands after part of it collapses leaving and single column of land. This is my first time to see something like that and I thought it was amazing that the whole thing just didn’t fall into the sea. It was a good thing it didn’t. There used to be people living in that part of the land. When the land collapsed, they were left on the brand new sea stack without a way back to the mainland. The people were eventually rescued and no one has lived there ever since.

[xmlgm {http://www.worldwanderings.net/kml/DownpatrickHead.kmz} zoom=19]