Nothern Ireland in one day

Today we make the crossing to Northern Ireland, starting with Derry. Derry is a walled city and actually that’s it, the wall and it’s gates are nice but not much else to see so we continue on to the Causeway coastal route. In Downhill water falling from the mountain and you can see the Mussenden Temple on the rock, and we stopped at Downhill castle (not more than a ruin) and the walled garden. At the village of Portrush [Portrush-travel-guide-1258225] there are the ‘white rocks’, cliffs that are not spectacularly high, but have a distinctive white color.

A little further on Dunluce castle, which is built so close to the edge of the cliff that pieces of it already disappeared into the sea below, and even now with the restoration of the castle sometimes bits disappear. In 1639 Duchess Catherine Manners got the shock of her life when a part of the kitchen collapsed and disappeared with staff and all in the waves, she then left Dunluce and refused to ever return, ultimately on the mainland a new castle was built for her.

Then off to Giant’s Causeway, parking the car at the visitor center and then taking the shuttle bus down. This was the main thing I wanted to see in Northern Ireland.The Causeway is composed of basalt columns that run into the sea, creating a sort of alien landscape. Legends tell of a giant named Finn MacCool that would have built the causeway as a bridge to the Scottish island of Staffa (there is a similar basalt landscape) to visit his beloved. In the cliff walls you can also see the basalt columns, including the so-called organ.

We walked the path along the coast until the point the path was closed, you could see why it was closed, a bit further on the path was gone completely. A sign was placed to explain why the path was closed (!) and a map showing low hazard, green(ish), moderate hazard, yellow, high hazard , orange and very high hazard, red. The sign was placed on a spot coloured orange on the map (!!!) We walked back and spent some time on the rocks leading into the sea. Since there was more in the area we wanted to see we took the bus back up instead of walking the part.

Next on the list: Carrick-a-rede rope bridge, not for people with vertigo! It wobbles and squeaks. The island it leads to is only for a small part accessible so after taking a few pictures it’s back to the car.

We actually planned two days in Northern Ireland but we already been to our must sees so we decide to cross the border again and find a B&B in the Euro part. We found a nice one in Carlingford. We had dinner in the local pub and had a beer after. A really drunk guy was talking to me (hey blondie) but I couldn’t understand a thing he was saying. His mate was laughing his head off though. But I think he couldn’t understand the gibberish either.