Today we went on a bus tour of the Antrim Coast. I’d been on tours of the area a couple of times before, but there were some changes this time.
Anyway, first stop was Carrickfergus Castle and harbour.
The next stop was Carrick-a=Rede, with the rope bridge you can cross to a little island. But during the pandemic, the folks there laid off all the staff and didn’t pay them any furlough wages, so they decided not to come back when the site reopened. That means that there aren’t enough staff to handle tour buses, though apparently private cars are allowed.
Instead, we stopped at a viewing site, where we could look out across the North Atlantic at the rope bridge. But the fog was very thick, so we couldn’t see it. Instead, here’s a picture of a tree at the end of the world.
Next stop was the Dark Hedges, which I hadn’t visited before.
The trip to our next stop was… lengthy. It seemed all the highways we tried to travel on was obstructed by construction or heavy equipment or delivery trucks parked inconveniently.
But we made it.
I have no idea who any of those people are, but I wanted a picture of the sign.
Our final stop was the Giant’s Causeway. I’ve already got a bunch of pictures of the Causeway on this blog, so here are just a couple more.
Back to Belfast, after that. This is our last night in Northern Ireland – tomorrow, take the train down to Dublin for the final few days of our trip.
Last tie I was in Belfast, I took a tour up around the Antrim coast to the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge, the Giant’s Causeway, and Dunluce Castle. It rained pretty hard the entire time, and I got drenched. More to the point, I didn’t really get any good pictures.
This time around, the sun was shining pretty much the whole time. There were some threatening clouds in the afternoon, and I felt a few tiny drops when I got back to Belfast, but really, the weather was pretty much perfect.
So, yeah. You may have seen some of these pictures from last trip, but I think these turned out nicer.
We started from the Europa Hotel. Until recently it held the record for the most bombed hotel in the world. Now the honour is held by the Hilton in Bagdad.
Our first stop was Carrickfergus Castle. We only had a short stop here, so we had a look at the outside, but couldn’t go in.
My seatmate on the tour was Anya, from Denmark. She agreed to take a picture of me here at Carrickfergus in return for me taking a picture of her here, as well.
Carrickfergus Harbour is very pretty.
We stopped for lunch at Bushmill’s Distillery. Not enough time for a tour, and a long line at the cafeteria, so I grabbed a sandwich from Spar and walked down into the town.
The centre of Bushmill Village is very nice. I still can’t get over the narrow, narrow streets and narrow, narrow sidewalks.
We stopped at a view of Dunluce Castle, which was very pretty, but we didn’t go in. A little disappointed, but at least I went in last year.
I didn’t get the name of the young lady who took my picture here. But thank you!
Last time I was at the Giant’s Causeway, tide was high, and I was a little disappointed with the size of it. Today, the tide was much lower, and a whole lot more of it was exposed. All the darker portion was new to me.
It’s really much more extensive than it seemed last visit. Also, less likely to kill you if you get close to the waves. And easier to climb on the drier stones.
So, yeah. Much cooler this time around. And not drenched in rain.
And lots of tiny wildflowers sprouting in amongst the stones.
Thanks to Anya for once again doing photographer duty.
Another shot of the Giant’s Boot. Drier this time.
Here are some kids up at the Organ. They give some perspective as to the size of the formation.
Looking up at the Organ. This time, without a big drop of water on the lens.
Waves crashing on the Giant’s Causeway. Big, but not terrifyingly big.
This is the headland on the beach just past the Giant’s Causeway. I’m not sure if the little pillars you can see on it are natural or man-made.
The island in the foreground is Rathlin Island. Interesting place. Behind it, the shadowy outline is the Mull of Kintyre – it’s actually part of shoreline of Scotland, about twelve miles away.
I had forgotten how much walking was involved in visiting Carrick-a-Rede. And how steep most of it is.
So, this is the Carrick-a-Rede bridge from above. With the bright sunlight, you can see exactly how far down things are.
Here I am, halfway across the bridge. Maria and David, who are from Mexico and are here on their honeymoon, helped out with this picture.
This is the view down from the bridge at about the half-way point. It’s around a hundred feet down to the water and rocks.
They have put up new fences to keep visitors from trampling over the fields where wildflowers will be sprouting soon.
After this, it was back to the bus, and back to Belfast. My legs are worn out, and I’m going to bed soon.
Those of you who have been looking at my itinerary have probably noticed that I didn’t go to the Ghost Walk last night. That’s because the schedule has changed, and they only run on Wednesdays and weekends. I’m going to try and make that tomorrow night.
I’m reserving judgement on what I’m going to do tomorrow until I see how well I recover from the exertions of today. I had planned to make it out to the Giant’s Ring, and maybe to Downpatrick, but I may try for Marble Arch Caves tomorrow if I’m still tired. Or I may just decide to try and see some of the places in Belfast I haven’t made it to, yet. I haven’t got anything definitively booked, so I can be flexible tomorrow.
In other words, stay tuned. Not even I know what I’m going to do!
Y’know, I’ve stayed in some really good places on this trip: Ariel House, Garnish House, The Moorings, Saddler’s House. Now, I’m at the Old Rectory and I have to say I like it best of all. This is not to denigrate any of the other places I’ve stayed – they were all great – but the Old Rectory is absolutely amazing.
Mary and Gerry are both great people – friendly and helpful and very welcoming. My room is great, and breakfast this morning was the best I’ve had in Ireland. Again, this is not to say I haven’t had good breakfasts in other places, but this one tops it.
So, if you’re coming to Belfast (and you should come to Belfast – it’s a wonderful city), this is the place you want to stay.
Anyway.
Today I took a tour of the Antrim Coast with the Black Taxi company. Norman was my driver, and he was a really good guide. Unfortunately, it rained pretty much all day, so we didn’t linger at a lot of places, and where I did go, I got soaked. This also meant that some of my pictures didn’t turn out because of water on my camera lens. But I got some.
Our first stop was the Carrick-A-Rede rope bridge.
This is the Carrick-A-Rede rope bridge. It’s about a hundred feet above the rocky sea, linking the mainland to an island. Fishermen used to use it to cross to the island for salmon fishing.
Here’s a shot from the island side of the bridge. In some ways, coming down the wet metal stairs was scarier than crossing the narrow, bouncing rope bridge.
This is the kind of rocky island terrain around Carrick-A-Rede.
Some of the islands off the coast at Carrick-A-Rede.
The next stop was the Giant’s Causeway. It really started raining and blowing out there, so I have fewer usable pictures than I wanted.
The Giant’s Causeway was pretty much awash with waves and rain and spray. But it was very cool.
I got out farther on the Causeway, but those pictures are all spray-splattered.
Speaking of spray-spattered, this is the Gaint’s Boot. It’s about four feet tall.
High up the wall of the coast is the Organ, a set of stone rods that look like organ pipes. I walked up there, but again, the weather messed up the pictures I took. But they were cool.
Then we were on to Dunluce Castle.
This is the first view I had of Dunluce Castle as we came over the hill. Very impressive.
The castle sits on a rocky island, with steep cliffs all around.
The castle is connected to the mainland by a bridge – it used to be a drawbridge.
On the mainland part of the ruins is the remains of the lodgings for the castle. You can see that the building used to be two storeys, with small rooms, each containing a fireplace.
The remains of the castle gatehouse.
The castle itself had a seventeenth-century manor house as the main building, complete with bay windows.
Looking out of Dunluce, across the water to a high field. In medieval times, a town surrounded the castle, and the fields have been partially excavated, revealing the remains of houses and shops.
One of the remaining towers, perched high above the sea.
At that point, cold and wet and tired – there was a lot of walking, and a lot of that walking involved steep hills and slippery stone steps – we headed back to Belfast. I spent some time drying off and warming up, and then went out to dinner. I had planned to go to a restaurant called The Barking Dog, which Mary had recommended, but they were booked. Instead, I went around the corner to a place called Abacus and had some very nice chow mein.
Tomorrow, I’m going to hit the Ulster Museum, Friar’s Bush, and The Crown. My trip is almost done.
