The Cliffs of Moher: The Cliff Top and O'Brien's Tower

The Cliffs of Moher run about 14 kilometres down the Clare coast, 120 metres high at Hag's Head in the south and reaching 214 metres just north of O'Brien's Tower, the round stone tower Sir Cornelius O'Brien put up in 1835 so that visitors would have somewhere to look from. Over a million people a year come, nearly all of them to the visitor centre — built into the hillside so as not to break the cliff-top line — and the fenced paths either side of it. The long coastal trail that used to run the whole way from Hag's Head to Doolin is not an option at present: the six kilometres from Liscannor up to Hag's Head are closed altogether on safety grounds, and from the Doolin end you can walk only as far as Surfers Path and turn back. On a clear day the Aran Islands sit out in Galway Bay in front of you.