1 July 2024 The Antrim Coast and Giant’s Causeway •

 1 July 2024     The Antrim Coast and Giant’s Causeway •

 Today we are visiting one of Ireland’s most popular sites – the Giant’s Causeway. 

Leaving Belfast, the weather was very overcast and a slight drizzle.  The longer we drove the foggier the weather became, but it did not dimmish the beauty of the area we driving through.  There were lush fields in every shade of green, many dotted with Mama sheep and their spring lambs.  The houses were small, but veery well maintained with manicured lawns and beautiful blooming flowers.  It was hard to take pictures as the bus was traveling pretty fast.  But it was just as you would imagine Ireland to be.  

We first made a rest stop in Glencloy, a small fishing village.  It had a very picturesque harbor that we enjoyed in spite of very windy conditions.  

Glencloy Harbor

Glencloy Harbor

Glencloy Harbor

We made another short stop to see two murals in the town.  The first mural was of their youth hurling team who in 2016 made it to Ireland’s national championship game.  This was quite a feat for a town of only 1300 people.  Hurling, as we will learn later in this trip, is a cross between our lacrosse and field hockey.

 The second mural was called Clann Lir and depicted a legend about children and swans that became the basis for Swan Lake.  As Tom related, there once was a happily married King whose three children he adored.  Sadly his wife died, and he remarried a woman name Eva as he thought it would be best for his children.  Unfortunately, she was jealous of the King’s close relationship with his children, and she cast a spell on them, turning them into swans.  The King begged her to release the children from the spell, but she refused.  Needless to say, the marriage ended.  The spell she cast would last for 900 years and would only be broken if a monk came to the spot where the swans were and rang a bell.  900 years to the day, a monk appeared and rang a bell.  The swans turned back into the children, but after 900 years, the children were very old.  The monk then watched them descend into heaven to be reunited with their father.

 

Clann Lir Mural

Mural to the Hurling Team

Grassy Fields In Antrim

We then continued our drive along the rugged coastline of Northern Ireland and the glens (or valleys) of Antrim.  Here you could see fishing farms in the water where salmon and mussels were raised and then harvested.  The landscape is very diverse with its glacial valleys, grassy cliffs (some with castles on the top), fields of wildflowers, dense woods, the waters of the ocean in multiple shades of blue, and quaint little villages.  This was also the location for much of the filing of The Game of Thrones.

 We also stopped to get a view of the Carrick-A-Reed Rope Bridge.  This bridge has the distinction of being named one of the World’s Scariest Bridges and one of the World’s Most Beautiful Bridges.  It is made out of rope but is reinforced with steel cables.  It was built in the late 1700s by salmon fishermen and crosses a 66-foot wide chasm and 100’above the rocks below.  It connects the Irish mainland with the island of Carrick-A-Reed.  While this bridge used to be a stop on this tour, it has been removed as it is always weather-dependent, and you must hike on an unpaved trail with steep inclines and steps.  And if the wind is too strong, the bridge will be closed.  So, we just have to settle for a view of the bridge.  It was very windy and foggy this morning, but we were able to get a glimpse of the bridge from our viewing spot high up on the cliffs.  And you could even see some people brave enough to cross it.

 

Looking Out at Carrick-A-Reed Bridge and Island

Rope Bridge with People

Looking Down the Cliffs to the Island

The Rope Bridge

Dduluce Castle

We made one more stop before lunch outside of Bushmill, the town closest to Giant’s Causeway to see the ruins of Dunluce Castle. Built by a Scotsman somewhere around the 15^th century, it sits on the edge of a basalt cliff that juts out into the sea and is connected to the mainland by a bridge.  While this afforded him uninterrupted views of the Antrim coastline, he built the castle just a little too close to the edge.  In 1639, the front side of the castle, to include the kitchen, fell off into the sea below taking seven cooks to a watery grave.  The ruins that you see today were what inspired C. S. Lewis (who was born and raised in County Antrim) to model his Cair Paravel in the Chronicles of Narnia after this castle.

 Following our lunch stop, Tom had a little surprise for us.  Bushmill is the home of the world’s oldest distillery, The Bushmilla Distillery.   We drove there and Tom had a bottle of Bushmilla Whiskey that we all got a small glass of and then toasted while he took our picture in front of the Old Distillery building.  On a chilly, windy day, it certainly warmed the tummy!

Olde Busmills Distillery

Old Bushmills Distillery

 

Happily, the rain had stopped and the fog was gone as we set out to explore the Giant’s Causeway whose landscape was formed by volcanic eruptions 40-50 millions of years ago.  It is comprised of over 40,000 interlocking hexagonal basalt columns that line the coast forming a set of natural stairs that lead from the igneous rock cliffs out into the sea.  What an amazing place!  I slowly made my way to one of the sections of basalt columns.  It took several tries to find the right set of flat stones to walk on and you had to be very careful as some of the stones were wet and there was slippery mud between the stones.  But I made it and here is the picture to prove it!

 

I Made Onto the Rocks!

Many myths and legends, however, surround the creation of these steps, but the main one centers on a battle between the Scottish giant Benandonner and the Irish giant Finn MacCool.   Much of the legend came from Fenian Cycle, a famous work of old Irish prose that followed the exploits of Finn MacCool.  (Finn is also a character in many myths from Scotland and the Isle of Man).  After Benandonner challenged Finn to a fight, Finn accepts and plots to outwit his opponent through his wit and noble deeds.  However, to be able fight Benandonner, Finn must first find a way to reach Scotland, so he created a high causeway across the North Sea to Scotland by tossing parts of the Antrim coast into the sea.  But once over there, he realized how big Benandonner is, returns to Ireland and resorts to cunning to defeat his foe.  He disguises himself as a baby being nursed in a cradle by his own wife.  When Benandonner crosses the bridge and sees how big Finn’s “baby” is, he deduces that Finn must be exceptionally large and flees back across the bridge, destroying it behind him so Finn cannot follow him.  If you believe the legend, then the Giant’s Causeway that we saw today is what remains of the bridge. 

 In 1588 a tragic event occurred here as the Spanish ship La Girona, carrying not only her crew, but the crews of two other ships that had sunk, was blown into the rocks and sunk killing all 1300 people on board.

 

Rock Formation at the Causeway

Cliffs Around the Causeway

Organ Pipes Rock Formation

Giant's Causeway

Giant's Causeway

Giant's Causeway

Giant's Causeway

Giant's Causeway

Giant's Causeway

This was a very exciting day and we all returned to our hotel tired, but looking forward to tomorrow’s adventure when we will see more of Ireland’s beauty as we make our way back to the Republic of Ireland and the town of Donegal.

 

Irish Countryside

Irish Countryside

Sheep on a Hillside