Irish county ramble sheltered from gale (8)
I believe the answer is:
downwind
'irish county ramble sheltered' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'from gale' is the wordplay.
'from' becomes 'down' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'gale' becomes 'wind' (I've seen this in other clues).
'down'+'wind'='DOWNWIND'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for downwind that I've seen is " In the direction in which breeze is blowing".)