Bushmills, Bridges and Ballycastle
Trip Start
Sep 10, 2009
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14
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Trip End
Oct 10, 2009
Ballycastle, Western Ireland, Ireland
Thursday, September 24, 2009
We watched the clouds gradually lift off Lough Swilly (I just love saying that name!) before we went down to breakfast. We dined alone this morning--I guess the young couple’s hike did them in.
After saying good-bye to Marie, we headed north. We stopped just outside the town of Carndonagh to see the Carndonagh Cross. It and its accompanying pillars are all that remain from a monastery founded by St. Patrick in the seventh century. The markings on the stone cross were quite worn, but the pillar etchings were still visible. We left just as a tour bus pulled up, so our timing was perfect.
We stopped at Five Finger Strand, a beach named for five rocks standing upright in the surf. We were disappointed to find not one finger, and we left for the climb to Malin Head. Malin Head is the northernmost point in Ireland, and it took us over an hour to get there. When we reached the car park, the ever present wind was blowing. On a small cliff below us we could see white stones spelling "EIRE". They were part of "S. S. EIRE" (Saor Stat Eire, Irish Free State), which identiifed Ireland to Nazi bombers as neutral territory. We went down a trail to see Hell’s Hole, but the tide wasn’t in far enough for it to impress us. After snapping a few pictures, we sought the calm of the car and drove down to the town of Culdaff where we found McGrory’s Pub. They opened early for us and we had a snack of tea and cookies.
In the town of Moville, we parked the car to walk around a bit, and ended up in the Clock Tower for lunch. The place was beautiful inside, full of intricately carved wood and beautiful ceilings. We had soup and sandwiches and John asked the bartender for permission to take some pictures and was given leave to do so.
We drove into Greencastle and right onto the ferry that would take us to Northern Ireland. While John had his window down to pay our fare, he was wet by a wave that came over the side. I laughed, but he didn’t see the humor in it.
Once in Northern Ireland, we drove through the town of Portrush, which is a seaside resort town. A lot of it is nice, but there are other sections with many boarded up houses. Between Portrush and Bushmills, the ruins of 16th century Dunluce Castle stand by the sea. It was the seat of the MacDonnell family until the kitchen fell into the sea during a grand banquet. We didn’t stop to tour, but took pictures from a vantage point. We went on to the town of Bushmills and the distillery that is still operating there. It’s the oldest operating distillery in the world. We opted not to take the tour, but went into the gift shop and walked around a bit.
We stopped at the Giant’s Causeway visitor center, but decided to wait until tomorrow to tackle that. Instead, we drove to the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge car park and put on our rain coats. After paying four pounds each, we walked the kilometer to the bridge. Our path had the Larrybane sea cliffs on one side and grazing cows on the other. For 350 years, the bridge was strung each summer from the mainland to an island so the salmon fishermen could fish off the island. When the salmon fishing dried up, the rope bridge became a tourist attraction. It’s strung 80 feet over the water, and it is a little scary. We took our turns crossing it and walked about on the island before crossing it again and starting the long walk back. As we exited, we bought certificates verifying that we had crossed the bridge.
We found our b&b on the road to Ballycastle. We’re staying at Glenmore House, which also has a restaurant and bar attached. There are fantastic wood carvings in front, and the people seem nice. The best thing about the place is the wi-fi. We’ve been away from the internet since Sunday.
We drove into town for a dinner and found a nice place by the harbor. John tried something new--chili chicken (kind of like a stir fry with veggies, noodles and a slightly sweet spicy sauce) and I had fish and a few chips. We shared a small bottle of wine and toasted our conquest of the bridge.
On our way back to the b&b, we saw a sign for Kinbane Head and decided to check it out. Below the cliffs, the ruins of a castle sit on a large rock. It’s possible to climb down and walk through it, but we weren’t up to it at that point. We did get some lovely pictures, though.
Back to the b&b, where we went into the bar for a short while and talked to some of the other guests. One, a girl from Liverpool and now Belfast, has actually been to Cedar Point! We’re now back in our room and getting ready to turn off the lights.
