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Today we are driving to Northern Ireland to visit the Giants Causeway and the Carrick-a-Rede Bridge. It is a long drive, over three and a half hours, and we have been told that tonight the North will be lighting enormous bonfires to commemorate the Battle of the Boyne, it is a political holiday. The roads to Northern Ireland started out ok, mostly motorways or national roads. But then, the narrow local roads plagued us. So many small roads that wind on for dozens of kilometers.

Carrick-a-Rede

But, we made it to the Carrick-a-Rede bridge and WOW. The ocean views are awesome! I thought crossing the rope bridge over a long drop into the sea would be a bit scary, but it was actually beautiful. Molly didn’t even hold the rope, she just walked across and posed for her picture. Across the bridge is an island, not big, but perfect for a picnic lunch in the tall grass. We could see the faint outline of the Scottish coastline in the distance.

It was a mystical sight. The weather is very warm today, so on the way back to the car we stopped at the ice cream cart, they have one at almost every tourist attraction. If you want to run a successful business, open an ice cream cart at a tourist site in Ireland, there is always a crowd.

Giants Causeway

Now on to Giants Causeway! The drive takes us down more harrowing local roads, and my heart is in my forehead by the time we get to the visitor center at the Causeway. We checked in at the tour desk and waited for the guide to gather the group. They gave us little head sets so we could hear the guide as she led us on a walk down the hillside to the ocean coast and the craziest hexagon stones.

The causeway is a true headscratcher. They have several theories on how these stones were created, and organized, but the truth may be something else entirely. The fun is in the possibilities, but the sight is truly awe inspiring!

The walk back up the hill is grueling in the hot sun. We went into the visitor center to use the facilities and browse the gift shop, but they did not have air conditioning and I was entirely too overheated. We bought a few souvenirs, and headed to the car, and air conditioning!

Dark Hedges

It was not too late in the afternoon yet, and even though we had a long ride home ahead of us, we felt there was time for one more stop. The Dark Hedges, used for filming in some of The Game Of Thrones episodes, was supposed to be quite the sight to see. Jon was able to navigate us, still the narrow roads are hard to avoid entirely, but we found a small parking lot and followed a few small groups of people on a walk in what we hoped was the right direction. Jonathan got some amazing photos, but I was feeling a bit of heat exhaustion and was glad when we got back to the car.

Bonfires in Belfast

Now for a very long drive back to Multyfarnham. We got on the motorway in good time and as we drove south towards the republic of Ireland Jon saw a very tall tower of wooden pallets with a few guys standing on top. The pyres for the bonfires are tall and before we got out of Northern Ireland, we started to see clouds of smoke in the distance. Was someone burning spring weeds, or had the celebration fires begun?

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