A wee trip to Giants Causeway.

Today Adrienne and I took a wee bus on a wee trip to Giants Causeway with a wee little Irish driver who said “wee” to describe just about everything and cracked me up like none other. There were different tours companies and I think we made the right choice with Allen’s tour. A big group of probably 15 other skaters did the Mini-coach tour. They ended up having a very similar timetable so we kept bumping in to them along the way. Adrienne and I were fine with it just being the two of us though; makes life less complicated and drama free.

We got picked up at our hotel by our driver’s father in his own car. He then brought us to the office, a furniture store which had then had us sit in to wait for the others. This was pretty hilarious. The Irish are just so nice though. All the workers felt the need to come over and check that we were comfortable and chat with us. Our group ended up being us along with 3 older couples. Adrienne and I sat in the back of the bus look the cool kids we are.

It was a good day in which I’m pretty sure we got to see all the major sites Northern Ireland has to offer in one swoop. We started off by seeing the Carrickfergus Castle, the 12th century Norman castle which is the best preserved medieval castle in Ireland. Onward, we drove the Antrim Coastal Road which was very picturesque.

I have to say I think that the western part of Ireland is still the prettiest part I have seen. It has been twelve years since I took that trip to Galway but I still think it is cooler there. Here they have rolling hill covered with sheep and fields BUT no stone walls. Here, it is just plain wood and wire fences which are no where near as charming as stonewalls! Also the houses all looked newer and modern; there were no thatched cottages to be found.

Next we went to Carrick A Rede where we walked across a rope bridge to get to this little island. The bridge was originally built by fisherman because the island was the best place to catch migrating salmon. Only 8 people are allowed on it at once. It looked much more daring in the pictures I saw prior. In my head as I walked across I said, “I am the log. I am the ravine.” From here you could see Scotland in the distance. At one spot it is only twelve miles away which just seems so close! On Carrick Island I was so amused with how squishy the ground was. It felt like you were walking on a mattress and usually when the ground is spongy it leaves your shoes wet and muddy but this was not the case here; it was just extra fluffy.

From there we drove on to Bushmills where the world renowned Distillery is located. Our bus tour didn’t really allow us time to do a full tour of the place but we got to take a peak at least. The smell was overwhelming from outside so I can’ fathom what it’d be like inside. I feel I could have passed out if I entered! Next we saw the Dunluce Castle which was built right on a cliff which while looks pretty nifty isn’t a wise idea considering the kitchen collapsed into the water. After this happened the inhabitants deserted it and moved to Glen Arms and nobody has lived there since this happened way back in the 13th century! We also made another pit stop at this lovely beach view that I forget the name of.


Finally we made it to Giants Causeway. We followed our guide’s advice and went the long trail down so we could take some aerial pictures. We hiked along the path looking down on the coast and all the rock formations which then lead us to this super steep staircase down.

It is quite the geological phenomenon how these rocks formed in hexagonal shape. It looks like something so man made it is unreal. We climbed around this rock playground and saw a whole mess of other Disney people while on the rocks.