We now have 2 days off and are taking the opportunity to make best use of the time to explore the area. We have hired a car and are just about to head off to the Giants Causeway…….catch you later!
Its now half past midnight – again snuggled up in my cabin and writing the blog for the day.
Fabulous day and we really feel we have taken the time to get to know Northern Ireland a little. Mike, John, Chris and I picked up the hire car and found the internet price quickly inflated by the time we had paid the extra fees, but, undeterred we headed for the “Causeway Coastal Route” which is apparently one of the top coastal driving routes in the world. We werent quite sure we would say it was that great, but were still very impressed all the same!
The Northern Ireland Coast with Dunluce Castle in the foreground and Giants Causeway in the Distance
Traveling “Round Britain” takes us to some beautiful spots, and you get a very different perspective of a place when you arrive there by boat. However, you dont particularly investigate a place fully, and mainly scout around the edge of places so it was lovely to be able to explore Northern Ireland much more thoroughly.
The whole coastline is beautiful, we stopped off at Carnlough for a spot of lunch then continued until we reached Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge.
Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge
This bridge was originally built by fishermen as this area is part of the route the salmon take during the breeding season as they migrate across the Atlantic. The rope bridge spans the 20metres wide chasm over the 30metre high drop – I realised how far that was when I heard how long it took for my camera lens cover to reach the ground as it fell out of my hand……… Yep – another casualty. To date there has been 2 cameras, one mobile phone, pair prescription sunglasses and now this. At least we are all intact!
Mike and Chris on Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge - just as I dropped my lens cap over the side!
Can you see my lens cap 30 metres down under Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge
Irish Beauty
Next stop is the Giants Causeway – a fabulous area of geological interest. It is designated as a “World Heritage Site” and has 40,000 basalt hexaganol columns formed during a volcanic eruption 60 million years ago. The rapidly cooling lava contracted and variations in the cooling rate resulted in the striking columnar structure. Usually lava cools from the top down, but in the area around the Giant’s Causeway, the lava cooled from the bottom up, resulting in a cracking pattern that looks like it was man-made.
Giants Causeway
Hexaganol Columns
People dodging on Devils Causeway
Fabulous columns at Giants Causeway
The geology is interesting, but what I found of greater interest was the folklore which surrounds it. Its the story, yes, you guessed it, of a giant! His name was Finn McCool – a great name for a giant I thought! Anyway, as often happens with the Irish, he wanted to get into battle with a Scottish giant called Benandonner, so he built the causeway to connect him to Scotland – Staffa to be exact. Benandonner accepted the challenge of battle and made his way over the causeway towards Finn McCool. However, when he appeared on the horizon, Benandonner was much bigger than Finn expected, he got scared and ran home.
His wife was a quick thinker and dressed Finn McCool as a baby and put him into an oversized cradle. When Benandonner arrived, she showed the giant her “baby” – he was aghast, “oh my, if thats the baby, how big must the daddy be” and scarpered! They always say behind every good man is a good woman! A lovely story isnt it!
As Benandonner ran, tearing up the causeway as he went – today you can only see the start and the finish. We have seen the start now, and we will in a few days see the finish when we visit Fingles Cave on Staffa – something to look forward to!
The Giants Causeway is absolutely beautuful, and I tried not to feel frustrated by the hundreds of people walking all over it like ants! I really wanted the place to myself, a bit mean I know. I would have been happy to share it with my companions!
From the Giants Causeway we visited Dunluce Castle,
Dunluce Castle
The coffee shop at Dunluce Castle in the distance you can see it looks like someones living room!
Dunluce Castle
by now the light was getting low and it looked beautiful in the early evening. From there we wound our way towards home once more but got very excited when we passed by a huge ASDA. Knowing that our trip after Monday will take us to the Scottish Isles and Outer Hebrides and little chance of any ASDA price, we darted into there. Tins of peas at 14p cant be left on the shelf! £230 later we left with our car packed to the gunnels!
Back to the boat and we did a great job at storing all the tins, packets of pasta and rice under Mike and John’s bunks – fabulous – we wont go hungry!
By the time this had finished, it was 11pm, just time for a bit of supper then crash out! Goodnight!
One Response to Day 34 – Bangor, Belfast.