The Causeway Coastal Route

Today turned out to be our most beautiful weather so far in Ireland and we were able to make the most of it. Three days in a row with no rain - the locals are declaring this as some sort of record!

Our first destination was the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge which was first built in 1775 by the salmon fishermen to access the little island off the coast where they lived and caught their fish.
The original single rope has been replaced and maintained by the National Parks, and you need to book a time for your crossing. I had done this some months ago and booked the first slot of the day at 9am which was great as there were very few others there and no coach loads of tourists had arrived yet. And it was a beautiful, calm morning.
The coastal scenery was spectacular and the rope bridge crossing was enjoyable - it really gets a bounce up as you walk. However, we did notice that there were a few others who had acrophobia and couldn’t bring themselves to cross the bridge, even though they had paid for it all.
Next stop along the Coastal Causeway route was Ballintoy Harbour - a beautiful little village set around a tiny harbour. For the first time on this trip we saw significant ocean swells rolling in which were crashing against the basalt rocks in a spectacular way.

After strolling around the harbour and foreshore area for a while, we headed off a few more km to the west for the Giant’s Causeway which is an amazing, naturally occurring cluster of hexagonal basalt columns formed from the cooling and shrinking lava flows. It is a really unusual natural phenomenon, attracts vast numbers of visitors and has been classified by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
A brisk 10 minute walk from the visitor car park to the actual site on a bright, clear day was great - but the sight of hundreds of other tourists was not so welcome. This is the busiest (natural beauty) place we have visited in Ireland so far.
We also discovered that it wasn’t necessary to again pay an exorbitant entrance fee and parking through the National Parks visitor centre. The Hotel right next to the visitor centre offered parking for £10, free access to the site AND £10 off any food or drink you ordered on return. To me, that was a ‘no-brainer’ and we certainly availed ourselves of this option.

Next up were a few interesting viewpoints further along the coast - the Maghearacross lookout; the Portrush and Whiterocks beach (which is the seaside holiday town of this part of Northern Ireland); We drove onto the beach and did a little 4WDing in our 2WD vehicle on the sand; the Gotmore scenic viewpoint - and then a direct drive into Londonderry - (or Derry, depending on your point of view).

After briefly checking in to our accommodation we headed into town to spend a little while ‘experiencing’ Londonderry. The evidence of the divisive, violent past is everywhere around you and is placarded for all to see. We then did a full circumnavigation of the old city walls (built in the early 1600’s) before heading back to our accommodation via Lidl for some groceries.Read more