Wednesday August 31st

We did not do much yesterday. I had my hair cut and we got laundry done. It was nice to have a day off from travelling.

 

Today we did the Causeway Scenic Drive to the east of Coleraine. We started the drive by passing through 2 fishing villages Portstewart and Portrush. Our first stop was a Dunluce Castle. It is a ruins of a castle built between the 15^th – 17^th centuries. It was built on the 30 foot high black basalt stack. This made it very easy to defend. We got the audio visual aid for the castle. Some people went to a lot of work describing what the castle would have been like. At the end of the talk we were shown a short video of what it might have looked like. This gave the ruins a much different look. Unfortunately the castle is built on a softer type of basalt. Some of the castle has already collapsed with the rock. It would have been an impressive castle in its day.

 

Travelling to the east we came to the Giants Causeway. It is a very impressive site of many basalt columns. Over the centuries many people used the blocks for building structures. You can see why as the blocks are already formed. Very little cutting would need to be done. The story goes that at 54 foot tall giant Finn McCool was building a causeway to Scotland. Meanwhile a bigger giant Benandonner was building one from Scotland. When McCool saw how much bigger Benandonner was he ran back home. His wife Oonagh dressed him like a baby so that when Benandonner showed up she told him that her husband was away but this was their son. Benandonner thought that if this was how big the baby was then how big would the father be. He left in a hurry destroying the bridge. There is a similar outcropping of basalt columns in Scotland.

 

Our last stop was at the Carrick-A-Rede Rope Bridge. Charles walked out to, and over the bridge. It was a 1km walk to the bridge. Charles said there were lots of stairs. I knew I could not walk across the bridge so I did not go. I would not have been able to get back if I went. The bridge was built so fishermen could get out to a small island where they could put out their nets to catch salmon. It was a precarious bridge that the fisherman built. Not like today's bridge. There were some beautiful views from the islands. Charles enjoyed his journey Carrick Island. I had a cup of tea while he was gone. There were so many different languages spoken around me it was like a league of nations.

 

A great way to spend the day.