Ireland's Northern Coast

About a month ago I took a trip with my friend Bethany to Dublin and Belfast. We only got a couple of days in each city, so we tried to stick to some of the tours so we could make sure to hit the highlights. Our second day in Belfast, we decided to hop on a tour up to the coast, and I'm really glad we did, since it was possibly the amongst the most beautiful landscapes I've ever seen.

A snapshot from the inside the bus.

Our first stop was Carrickfergus Castle, just outside Belfast, which has a lengthy history, including the landing of King William III of England in 1690.

A boat in the castle's present day harbor.

Commemorative statue of King William III

As we continued up the coast, we stopped by a small fishing village for a washroom break and some snacks. There wasn't much to see, besides a nice little harbor with gorgeous coastal views.

I like boats in harbor.

Me on the see wall. Photo by Bethany Schmidt.

Bethany, relaxing on the sea wall.

Then we continued up the coast through a few small villages until we reached the Carrick-A-Rede Rope Bridge. It's a bridge that was built by fishermen to get out to an outcropping where the salmon gathered. It's now a part of the National Trust, and is preserved for everyone's enjoyment. The bridge is 5 pounds to cross, but the experience and views are totally worth it.

Views of the cliffs from the island and paths:

The fields near the paths were filled with playing children and
picnicking families.

The rope bridge was only about 80 meters above the water, and the gentle sway wasn't enough to make me uneasy. It's also reinforced with steel cable, so I felt pretty safe crossing it. Bethy wasn't as logical about her crossing, though.

The rope bridge to the out cropping.

She didn't quite realize what we had signed up for.

Once we were across, though, the views were stunning, and everyone was having a good time.

There was a group of kayakers who came to explore the caves
in the cliff faces. Photo by Bethany Schmidt.

After the rope bridge, we were running late back to the bus, so we ran through the paths back, without time to stop at the souvenir shop. Apparently, the others on the tour weren't as concerned with timeliness though, since the last girl strolled on to the bus almost 20 minutes late with snacks from the concession stand in her hands. It ended up not being a huge deal, though, because the next stop was the Bushmill Distillery, and neither Bethany or I had the money or interest to spend a lengthy amount of time in a whiskey gift shop.

There was, however, an iconic red phone booth
at the distillery.

After what equated to a washroom stop at the distillery, we were off to our last stop, the Giant's Causeway. This is a formation of perfectly hexagonal stones, said to be ruins from a feud between a giant in Ireland and a giant in Scotland. I had never heard of the formation before, and had no idea what to expect, but it was absolutely breathtaking.

A view of one of the smaller formations from above.

There were several inlets like this, reaching out into the sea.

The stones formed perfect, hexagonal pillars

The smaller rocks were almost like inside-out geodes.

The cliffs overlooking the causeway.

If you wanted to take the risk, you could climb the rocks quite far out
into the inlet and watch the boats go past.

Another view of the cliffs, with the top of the causeway.

We got quite a bit of time to explore around the causeway, since it was our last stop for the day, and after about an hour of climbing on the rocks, splashing in the water a bit, and exploring the trails, we decided to reward ourselves on a great day of touring with a bit of ice cream from the shops near the top of the trail.

Bethany, enjoying her strawberry ice cream.

Overall the tour was great, and I'm really glad we got to see the coast. It's definitely a place I want to go back to when I can afford to travel and explore a bit more on my own, instead of being limited by a tour schedule. I think it would also be a neat place to do a tour by sail boat or kayak, and we saw quite a few adventurous souls sight seeing via boat.

Quite shortly after we got back to Paris from Belfast, it was time for Beth to head home. She had a great time in Paris, even if she did spend a lot of it sick in bed, and it was nice to see a face from home, especially since Beth and I don't get to see as much of each other as we used to. I'm glad she made it out, and I was happy to have a travel buddy again.

I still have a few posts from my last few weeks in Paris, and I have some non-photo posts brewing about coming home and readjusting to life here. Those should be coming up soon, so stay tuned!