Fourteen thousand steps before lunch
Wow! What a day!
After enjoying a lovely cooked breakfast at our B&B shared with a Chinese couple who spoke little English, though rather more than our Chinese, we were advised by our host Martin to set off early to Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge because once the multitude of tourist coaches started arriving from Belfast there'd be no chance of getting across the bridge.
Good tip! We were first in the queue once the bridge opened for the day. It's run by the National trust. They do not give senior discounts: when John enquired the man on the desk cheerfully said, "Well your daughter there doesn't look old enough anyway".
 |
| The bridge is visible in the distance, honest! |
It was quite a hike along a cliff edge path to get to the bridge. A couple of people overtook us on the way because we were slow. I'm so glad we were one of the first ones to go over. It would be awfully scary with a crowd there, especially when we saw some young lads jumping up and down on it to make the bridge bounce!
 |
| Ah. That's a betterer view. You can see the bridge clearly too. |
 |
| The water is really, really clear |
You could see over to Rathlin Island from this vantage point and also see some nesting sea-birds on the next island. On a good day you can see all the way to Scotland and Ailsa Craig. Today was a good day!
 |
| Barb was very taken with the wild flowers (or weeds, as the Brits sometimes call them) |
We next drove the few miles on to Giant's Causeway. We saved the twelve pounds each parking fee at the site by parking in the hotel carpark next door. If you buy a cup of tea and cake there they validate your parking and you get in free (Thanks for that tip too Martin!)
 |
| If you look closely you can see Isla the dog cringing. As the ad says - what have you done? |
 |
| No Isla, you are not a parrot to sit on my shoulder |
It's a long walk to the causeway from the entry point. There are shuttle buses, but these are largely taken up by coach tour groups. Apparently there can be up to 140 coaches come through in one day in summer peak periods. Yikes! Once you get down to the causeway rocks there's plenty of room to spread out, but the place is swarming with people all trying to get that special shot.
We walked back up VERY slowly, stopping at every bench provided along the way to rest. Barb is popping panadol today for her knees.
Dunluce Castle was next on the to-do list. We drove through the town of Bushmills but decided against doing the whiskey distillery tour as neither of us is drinking much alcohol these days.
Dunluce castle is a ruin, but a really really lovely one, set high on a cliff top it looks really dramatic.
It's worth going all the way in to inspect the ruin, not just stopping for one good photo and then driving on as so many of the coaches do.
 |
| They invited one to do dress-ups - but only if one was a child. Barb thought she qualified but John told her NO! |
The views from here are sublime. You can see all the way to the sand dunes at Portrush. Even beyond that to Port Stewart. We drove in to Portrush intending to have lunch here. It was super busy here, as they were setting up for the Irish Open Golf tournament with lots of grandstands being erected around each green. Barb fails to mention it was not an attractive town - very crowded with masses of holiday makers presumably staying in the enormous holiday camp(s) we passed on the way in. No chance of a parking space, so we decided just to drive back to Ballycastle for icecreams and a nap. We were too tired to even go out for dinner tonight. We dined in on fruit, crackers with peanut butter and diet coke. Yummee!
 |
| Ballycastle Marina |
No comments:
Post a Comment