Giant’s Causeway & Derry
1st May.
THE GIANTS CAUSWAY ON THE ANTRIM COAST
The beautiful sunny day turned
around 8am.We set off early hoping to
miss the early rush hour traffic and had made good time. By the time we hit Coleraine heavy cloud had
formed and it started to drizzle rain. We took the turn for Bushmills town and as we entered the Giant’s Causeway carpark
some idiot was getting out of his car in shorts, it was blowing a gale. Welcome to Northern Ireland in the early spring. A brisk walk and five minutes later we were
in the world famous Giants Causeway
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| Giants Causeway |
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| Giants Causeway
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I had been here many times in
my early years and it never ceased to amaze me that each time I can remember my
visits here it was always cold and windy.
Funny shaped windblown hexagon stones stretch out as far as the eye can
see. We posed for photos for as long as
we could bear and rather than walk right around the headland decided we had enough
and made our way back to the carpark for hot tea and some tourist advice on the
Antrim coast.
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| Giants Causeway
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| Giants Causeway
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| Giants Causeway
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“Stay with me Johnny” Sharon
squealed over my shoulder then followed immediately by “Quick quick, move, move" as she kicked at my heels suddenly realizing how high the bridge was. ‘Don’t look down’ I sighed as I moved
forward. We were 100 ft up and the breakers
were crashing away below us. The wind
was howling now and I sung out “Hold on tight “as we slowly made our way across the swinging bridge.
I only found out Sharon has a
fear of heights on our lead up to our preparation for our walk in New Zealand’s
Milford Track several years before so I knew that Carrick-a-Rede Bridge suspension
bridge was going to be a challenge.
Neither of us was prepared for the howling wind which made our crossing
quite exhilarating. (The look on Sharon’s
face is priceless)
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| Carrick-a-Rede Bridge
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| Carrick-a-Rede Bridge
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| Carrick-a-Rede Bridge
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| Carrick-a-Rede Bridge
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The bridge was originally used
by fishermen to access the wild coast area where the fish is abundant. Apparently at one time it was just a hand
rope and the wiry fishermen used to cross with their daily catch.
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| Carrick-a-Rede Bridge
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Bushmill's has the oldest distillery
in the world and we stopped for lunch and to visit the shop.
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| Bushmill's
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| Bushmill's
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| Bushmill's
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It is easy to immerse yourself
in the scenic splendor all around you here. From Bushmills we went around the beautiful Antrim
coast past Dunluice Castle, through Portrush and then along the Strand in
Portstewart on our way to the historic city of Derry
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| Antrim Coast |
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| Antrim Coast |
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| Dunluice Castle
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THE WALLED CITY
1500 years of history and
culture are enclosed within Irelands only walled city. During my early years in Ireland I had never
been on the walls of Derry and was determined to include this as part of our
trip. Sharon and I engaged a guide to
provide a running commentary on our 45min walk along the walls which is in
remarkable condition considering how old it is.
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| The Wall's of Derry |
From the commanding position
on the walls you can view all the famous areas in the city. Built around 1618 the walls are 1.5 Kim long
and up to 8m high. In some areas they
are over 9m wide. Originally there were
4 gates in the walls two of which had drawbridges. We were able to see many of the emotional Mural’s
painted on the buildings below depicting images from both sides of the conflicts
that happened here.
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| A young girl shot dead on Bloody Sunday |
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| Walls of Derry |
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| Walls of Derry |
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| Walls of derry |
From Derry we drove through
Feeney, and back over the sperrins to Draperstown. I got some fantastic photos of the sun
setting behind us in the Sperrin Mountains on the way home
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