Northern Ireland: Castles & Dragons

25 April 2009

Northern Ireland: Castles & Dragons

We woke up in our comfortable B&B bed feeling very well rested. I could already smell the buttery aroma of breakfast being cooked downstairs. After our warm showers, we headed down to the breakfast room and were each presented with a “full fry.” This is essentially the same thing as a full Irish breakfast. We had eggs, toast, sausage, rashers (bacon), tea, and the best thing was the fried bread. Right as we were in the middle of eating, we saw the same Czech guy from yesterday at the table next to us! Our paths continued to cross.

We did not linger long after breakfast because we planned to return to the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge, this time to actually traverse it, before catching an 11:00 bus to the Giant’s Causeway. We decided we’d take the long walk along the coast to the bridge and went back by the stucco church where we’d seen the sunset last night. There was a designated coastal walkway that actually cut right though the sheep and horse pastures. It was very quiet and peaceful as we walked along listening to the baaing sheep and the crashing waves beyond.

Our leisurely stroll took longer than we expected and knowing we had to be back in no more than 1 hour to catch one of the very few buses of the day, we picked up the pace. By the time we got to the ticket area where you buy tickets for the bridge, we were really pressed for time. We figured since we had come all this distance, we should cross that famous bridge. To keep track of time, we literally jogged half of the way up steep hills to the entrance to the bridge. I had to climb down one very steep staircase to get to the actual bridge. The wind was whipping all around me and the sea was crashing below. I took one big step out onto the wooden planks of the rope bridge and the whole thing shook. Nonetheless, I felt quite safe on this bridge. I figured if it the salmon fisherman were able to brave enough to cross a bridge here 350 years ago, I would be OK today.

Once you get to the other side, you can walk on Carrick Island and explore a bit, but there was literally no time for that. I did take a moment to enjoy the scenery. With the clearer weather today, I could just make out the Mull of Kintyre which is a part of Scotland. From a nearby island of Northern Ireland, it is almost 16 miles by sea to Scotland. I waited as Ryan gingerly crossed the bridge after me. We had a few pictures, and then had to rush back to the B&B. At this point we had about 15 minutes until the bus would arrive. We did a mix of jogging and speed walking to get back to the B&B in time. It wasn’t that warm, but with the humidity, I was sweating in no time.

We made it back with about 5 minutes to spare which was just enough time to go inside, grab our bags, pay for the room, and even bump into the Czech guy again. After dragging our bags across the street, we finally had a moment to breath after our rushed morning. We weren’t waiting long when instead of the bus pulling over for us, a grey Fiat stopped right where we were standing. It was the Czech guy from our B&B! He said he was heading to see the Giant’s Causeway by way of some other local sites and offered a ride. We were, of course, more than happy to join him.

Our first stop was the Ballintoy waterfront. There were lots of interesting looking rock formations in the water, many of which were easy to climb. I got a chance to acquaint myself with our new travel companion. His name was Olda, and although he was from the Czech Republic, he had been living in Bristol, England for the last couple years working as a mechanical engineer. He traveled to Northern Ireland via Belfast with two friends from Bristol. The couple he was with had opted to head back to Belfast for the remainder of the weekend but Olda preferred to explore the outdoors. He began to tell us about his adventures so far and we shared ours.

Our next stop was Dunluce Castle. Dunluce means “The hill fort of the fairy fort.” This castle is literally built on a cliff that is cut off from the mainland, connected only via a bridge. There are records that a castle was originally built here in the 1200s but Dunluce itself did not come into being until the 1500s. It was owed at different times by two different wealthy clans, one from County Antrim (Northern Ireland) and one from Scotland. The castle has been added to and altered over the years as it’s been lived in by different wealthy clans and families. Now it is just a ruin, with mainly just the walls still remaining. As we explore the castle, all there was above our heads was the blue sky above. In the 1690’s the family who owned it fell into impoverishment and since that time, the castle slowly deteriorated. Out of the remaining windows, there were views of cliffs, ocean, and rocky shoreline below. Many elements of the castle are still well preserved, there are fireplaces, turrets with steps, ovens, and even original stone flooring in one area. The old kitchen and servant quarters actually collapsed into the ocean one night back in the 1600s, taking with it the lives of at least a dozen servants. The castle clearly had a fortressed location, but living in Dunluce was not without risk.

When we finished exploring all of the nooks & crannies of the castle ruins, we walked down the road to try to get some good distance shots of the castle and cliffs. We had to do a bit of trespassing onto some farmland to get the right angle but the cows didn’t seem to mind. We traipsed on the bounciest grass I have ever felt. It almost seemed if you weren’t careful enough, you could bounce right off the cliff and tumble to the rocks below. The views of the castle ruins, shooting out of the jagged cliff were just beautiful and the weather was stunning. When we returned to the carpark, we saw a café called “Wee Cottage” and decided to stop for an afternoon snack. Olda, a man after my own heart, had quite a sweet tooth. We ordered up some tea, which came in a flowery fancy pot, and tried some chocolate cake and sticky toffee pudding. The toffee pudding was one of the best desserts I have had in a very long time!

Olda told us that we were welcome to continue our travels with him as long as we pleased. He had planned to next stop at Mussenden Temple. This temple was built on the Downhill Estate in the 1700s along with Downhill Palace. The temple is a round building that was literally built on the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean. There is an inscription around the roof of the temple by Lucretius that reads "Tis pleasant, safely to behold from shore/The rolling ship, and hear the tempest roar." I can see that this would have been a humbling place of worship. Up the hill from the temple is Downhill Palace, also built in the same time by the Earl of Bristol. It is now just a ruin as well with most of the walls still standing but no roof. It was ruined in a fire during the 1850s, later restored only to deteriorate again during WWII when it was used to house the Royal Air Force. It is a shame to think they couldn’t better preserve this mansion. With such a beautiful location on the cliffs it would have surely been a spectacular home. Now just ruins, it has a creepy magnificence.

We took a quick drive a few miles away through the town of Castlerock to the beaches below Mussenden Temple. It was a wide sandy beach on which one could drive a car. There was a girl on horseback, waterfalls from the cliffs below, and train tracks carrying on through a tunnel that went right under the cliff of Mussenden. After we got all of our good pictures, we figured it was finally time to make our way to the main attraction of this part of Ireland, the Giant’s Causeway.

The Giant’s Causeway is a place like no other. Millions of years ago when this was area was highly volcanic, the lava cooled in such a way that it formed thousands of interlocking basalt columns. The columns are very geometric in nature, shaped like pentagons, octagons, and so on. They rise up out of the ocean and appear almost like natural steps. There has been Irish myth surrounding this place for a very long time. The legend goes that Finn McCool was a giant who built the causeway as a path to nearby Scotland to fight the Scottish rival giant there. There are different versions of the story, but basically the Scottish giant made it over the ocean before Finn did. Finn saw that the Scottish giant, Benandonner, was much bigger than he. Finn came up with a plan. He had his wife dress him up like a baby. When Benandonner arrived and saw this huge baby, he realized that if Finn’s baby was this large, the giant Finn must be incredibly huge and strong. So Benandonner ran back to Scotland in fear and ripped up the causeway so Finn could not follow. This is supposed to be why the causeway is jagged pieces of rock. Interestingly enough, there is a cave in Scotland not far across the ocean called Fingal’s Cave and it is full of these same basalt columns that even hang from the ceiling of the cave.

We lingered at the Giant’s Causeway for quite awhile, waiting out a rain shower at one point. Since it was the end of the day, we figured we’d try to get a good sunset at the causeway. Unfortunately, it was not nearly as spectacular as the sunset from the night before. But we stayed on the shore until the sun slipped into the clouds hovering above the horizon. By this time it was about 9 o’clock and we knew that many of the pubs would stop serving dinner around then. We hiked back up the cliffs to the carpark and figured we’d go in search of some pub grub. We never had to get into the car because right near the entrance to the Giant’s Causeway was a cozy little pub. Inside it was so warm with coal fires and there was live music. The three of us found a comfortable table and ordered up local seafood. After stuffing ourselves on the delicious food and recounting our busy day, we figured it was time we found place to rest our heads for the night. There was not a whole lot around this part of Ireland, but we had noticed a B&B just up the road earlier on so we figured we’d try our luck there. It was about 10pm now and when we approached the home, it was fairly dark inside. A tall, older woman came to the door and greeted us warmly. It turned out there were quite a few empty rooms and we had our pick of which one we wanted. After such a busy day, we jumped right into bed, happy to be in another warm and cozy Irish B&B and anticipating another delicious homemade breakfast in the morning.