What we got was an incredibly dull
etymology tour, our driver monotonously explaining the meaning behind
the names of every glen and town we passed on our way north to the
major sights. Danny usually is a sucker for this kind of stuff but
even he couldn't enjoy the entire journey like this. Darren our bus
driver put me to sleep and Gemma into apoplectic rage with his dulcet
tones and sayings.
We experienced the worst weather of the
trip during our brief stop at Carrickfergus castle. Here, ocean winds
were blasting spray in our faces and we did not linger long. I
quickly layered up for the suspension bridge. After Darren our bus
driver told us many times how much money we would save by buying the
rope bridge, causeway visitor centre and audio tour. (£10 for the
two saving us a total of £4.10) We also adopted Lawrence a Chinese
adventurer studying in Durham.
Carrick-A-rede was our first proper
stop, after lots and lots of ill-delivered exposition. The weather
eased off a bit crossing was still dramatic, courtesy of a howling
wind on the cliffs. The island remains mostly closed off, leaving the
wonderful views and experience of the rope bridge as the main draw.
From the pictures I had saw online I
was thinking that the bridge was going to be much larger or should I
say longer. However, when you are standing on the bridge being
blasted by wind holding onto a rope that is literally pushing you to
one side whilst looking down you can why this bridge makes your knees
quake. Hold on tight and keep walking. After hitting the sign that
tells you that you cannot go any further we headed back for a cup of
hot chocolate and tea.
Next stop Bushmills distillery for
lunch, we hand an hour to head in decide what we wanted to eat and
give a taster to the whiskey if we so choose. We all had steak and
Guinness pie in the café and tried some whiskey at the bar. Danny
had a moment at the bar where he bought a bottle of 16 year, a very
nice treat.
After briefly stopping at Dunluce
Castle for a very short photo-op, we made it to our final stop,
Giant’s causeway. The visitor centre is a far cry from when last
Danny was there, apparently it was a whole new building hollowed out
of the ground. We picked up our audio guide and began our trek to sea
level alongside our new friend Chris from Seattle.
I thought that it was going to much
larger when I arrived maybe because in my mind the giants would be
massive. Even though it wasn't as huge as I had hyped it up in my
mind the structural formation is very unique unlike anywhere else in
the world. Plus the story of how the Giant’s causeway came to be
has a very interesting story.
The audio tour was totally new to me I
always knew that you could get a little voice guiding you around and
telling you the history about what you were looking at. This was my
first time using one of these devices and I did look for things that
I wouldn't have which was neat.
We all split up climbing around the
stones walking up to the ocean side, sitting on the rocks and taking
photos. A wonderful place to some epic panoramic photographs. Lastly
before heading back to the visitor centre we stopped to see the
Giant’s organ. Gemma spoke with the bus driver beforehand and found
out that he would he would be able to drop us off in Antrim which is
near where Gemma lives. We got picked up at the bus stop for a lovely
homemade stew supper.
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