Day 16 - Derry and Giant’s Causeway


We should have mentioned yesterday we saw an interesting sign in Donegal. Geologists believe that at one point millions of years ago the US Appalachian mountains were connected to the mountains in southern Donegal. Someone has created "sister" hiking paths so you can hike these ancient mountains by doing some in the US, and some in Ireland.

Our B&B had a lovely little coffee shop/cart attached to it. The owner was engaged to the B&B owner’s daughter. Randy enjoyed talking to him as he drank his morning mocha. "Good" coffee on the island is quite a recent thing. Instant was always used, but cafes serving coffee have popped up all over the place. Randy was also schooled on hurling and Gaelic football. Reminder to anyone who travels. Talk to the locals and ask questions. You can learn a great deal and are not just not "site seeing".  





We then walked a short distance from our B&B to meet a local guide who would give us a "Free Derry" tour. “Free” isn't zero cost. The saying was used in the late 1960’s with respect to freeing Derry from English tyranny, and was actually "borrowed" from the Free speech movement at UC Berkley in the US. Our guide walked us through the history of the English-Irish relations over time, up to the 1960’s and 1970’s, when violence erupted. This was especially moving when we walked the streets where the 1972 Bloody Sunday massacre occurred. Fourteen Irish were killed by English soldiers. We could probably go on and on about this conflict. there are a lot of sad stories. Fortunately, after the 1993 peace accords, things have settled down, even though there is still division. The "bog" side of town is where the Irish/Catholic live. Waterside is the Protestant, Union side of town. But there is more mixing of residents, and much less, if any violence.


Our guide, Michael, he had a cousin
killed on Bloody Sunday. 




Piece of the wall with bullet holes still visible. 


Wall showing those killed


This is a rubber bullet. We had no idea how
large and heavy these are.
No wonder people can die if they get hit by one. 

Giant’s Causeway was our next destination. It was good to get back to nature after such a sobering morning. This unique geologic feature along the Northen Ireland coast has hexagon shaped rocks that were formed millions of years ago when lava cooled. It's hard to describe, so just look at the pictures.










Our final stop was a castle ruins named Dunluce. The castle is perched right on cliffs over the ocean, with a narrow bridge between the mainland and the castle. The site was home to previous buildings, but the current ruins were built in the 15th century for one of the local Anglo-Irish clans. After switching hands several times (battles, changes in alliances, swearing allegiance to the English...). The castle was finally abandoned in 1690 when the current owners, the MacDonalds could not afford to stay. The location on the oceanside cliff is quite spectacular.  












We then headed to the town of Ballycastle for the night. Bally is in front of a lot of town names. It basically means "place of". So Ballycastle is the place of the castle. 


We found a great little pizza place and had a good dinner before retiring for the evening. 


Dinner at Al’s Pizzaria


Tomorrow we will drive down the Atrium coast, which is the Northern Ireland equivalent of the Wild Atlantic Way, but on the northeast corner of the island.

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