Giant Causeway Day

We started the day at 1 am when we were all awake and not able to sleep… Seemed like a good time for snacks so Sarah went out to the car, in her pyjamas, with flats on. The car key was broken and so the car alarm went off for a long time, surely disrupting all our neighbours. After a middle of the night snack of chips, chocolate and cookies, we went back to sleep by 3. After waking up for the second time, this morning we had a lovely breakfast, fresh sour dough, Irish butter, fresh fruit, steamed eggs and coffee/tea.
We stopped at Carrick-Ferguson castle and had a quick tour there where we walked through all the rooms and down the dodgiest steep spiral staircase. The castle was stunning and overlooked the ocean! We had our first ocean views and drove along the coast on the way to Giant Causeway.
It was sunny as we arrived and as we started the walk down to the Causeway, it started torrential with aggressive winds so we opted for the shuttle.
We got down to the Causeway and it was stunning. The area has about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns from the intense volcanic activity. The molten basalt pushed through the fissures and contracted as it cooled, created distinct geometric, mostly hexagonal columns.
It is Northern Ireland’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site.
We spend time enjoying the stunning views from ocean shores as the wind and rain continued, blowing sea foam like bubbles all around us.
It stopped raining and Sarah and Amanda decided to explore the trail system and walk up the stone stairs and follow the path all along the coast and up to different vantage points where the columns could be seen. At times the wind was so ferocious that it would push us almost over or stop us dead in our tracks, depending which way it was coming at us.
It was an adventure walk filled with 136 flights of stairs, 7 kms, and so many stunning views, giant fits of laughter and all seasons of weather.
We continued another 1.5 hrs to Derry (where our hotel for the next two nights was). We arrived and Amanda was EXCITED for this 4 star hotel. We had an adventure in the lift as we BARELY fit and it stopped several times on the way out as we stepped slightly outside of the allotted box. Very sketchy. As we arrived outside the room Amanda said, “I am excited for a positive experience” …And we stepped inside the dingiest room with the strongest odour and black mold in the bathroom. We saw two additional rooms and they were both equally sketchy. The hot water took approximately 10 minutes to heat up. Sarah was frantically searching for alternative places on Air BnB and found one!
Off we went, cancelling our supper plans stopping at M & S foods and Tesco for more snacks and supper and we carried onto our new accommodations.
We arrived and settled in and all enjoyed a LOT of snacks and treats including some treats that were left by our host! SUCH an improvement over out last place.
We had a great night of laughing until we cried and we made it until 12!! (5 pm Red Deer time.). Good night!!!!Read more