Day 17 - I Thought You Could See Scotland


We didn’t mention it, but a couple days ago we crossed over the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland/United Kingdom. So pounds, not Euros. Mileage and speed signs are miles, not kilometers. Football is soccer, not Gaelic football. But we still drive on the left and it is still rainy and windy.

This morning was our biggest adventure of the trip. Crossing 60 feet over the ocean on a rope bridge to a small island. The Carrick-A-Rede rope bridge connects the mainland to a small set of islands. Fisherman built the bridge to get out to the islands where salmon congregated due to a natural harbor for them. Now it’s just a tourist attraction. It was more adventurous than normal due to...you guessed it…wind and rain. Clouds also obscured the views, making the perspective different than on a sunny day. So beautiful in a different way. If you don't mind heights and a swaying/bouncy rope bridge, we highly recommend it. 







We then headed down the east coast of Northern Ireland on the Causeway Coastal Highway. Misty, rainy, cloudy, a peak of sun, misty, rainy, cloudy... We stopped at Tor Head, where it is the shortest distance to Scotland and one can supposedly see over to it. Not today, at least not here. However after lunch, the skies cleared up and we were able to see some of the western Scottish Islands.


Just after Tor Head we saw a couple of rain bows. 

And eventually did see across to some Scottish islands. 

Lunch was in the small, quaint town of Glenarm. It was quite peaceful. Tourist season is mostly over, so it felt like we had the town to ourselves.  


Beet root soup and bread for lunch. 

The Barbican Castle




After lunch, the more windy mountain roads gave way to flat roads that ran right up against the Irish Sea. It seemed like we stopped 20 times and tried to get the perfect picture. We also stopped in the town of Larne. Our previous nights B&B hosts had said, "don't stop in Larne, there is nothing there", but we did because Rebecca and I had come to Larne on a ferry in 1969 when our family had traveled from Scotland to Ireland for a holiday. So it was a sentimental stop. We even got a picture of cars unloading from a ferry boat.



Same port the Knapp family used in 1969
to get from Scotland to Ireland for a family trip. 

 

We ended the day in Carrick-Fergus, a small sea side town with a castle that we set out to explore. Rebecca and I had also visited the castle in 1969, and Rebecca had a picture of herself there which we recreated. The castle was built right on a small jut of land by the waters edge, by Strongbow, the English lord who had come to help an Irish king and stayed.  It was innovative in its design with multiple gates, drawbridges, and murder holes to fend off attackers. Later the MacDonnels used the castle as their seat after they had abandoned Dunluce Castle (see yesterday). Amazingly the castle was still in use through WW2 when it housed US Rangers.



Rebecca at the same castle in 1969

Recreation of 1969 photo


Castle is decked out for Halloween




After a lovely meal at the hotel’s restaurant, we headed off to bed. 


Lamb Curry

Daub of Beef with Potatoes 

Grilled salmon with noodles and vegetables 

Guinness Beef Stew

Sticky Toffee Pudding and Crème Brûlée 

Tomorrow we do some St. Patrick stuff before heading back into Ireland.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ireland Day 0 - Travel Day

Image
  A happy ending to a long night and day.  We are off on another adventure......   Our trip to Ireland started out much like our Alberta Canada trip ended.     Canceled flight and a mad scramble to find new flights. About 4pm Sunday we were notified our Aer Lingus flight direct to Dublin had been canceled for "Operational Reasons".    Not sure what that means other than no plane as we had scheduled.    They booked us on a flight the next night (Monday), but that would have caused us to miss a day of planned and paid for touring. Randy spent lots of time on hold and on calls, and lots more time surfing to check other options. His hard work led us to a flight through Heathrow to Dublin that still left Sunday night. The Heathrow flight went off without a hitch, however our connection to Dublin was delayed for over 3 hours, related to the cyber issues Europe has been experiencing the last couple of days. These affected flight systems, so people w...
Read more

Ireland 2025 - Follow Along If You Wish

Image
  Headed to Emerald Isle - Join Us! Hello Friends! We are headed back to Ireland so Heather is busy trying to get the blog page up and running. We first went to Ireland in 2023 with our travel buddies, Brad & Cindy. This time we will be traveling with our sisters Heidi (Heather's sister) and Rebecca (Randy's sister). We have all traveled together once before when we went to Spain in 2023. It worked out well, so when they both retired this year and thought a trip to Ireland might be fun, Randy put one together. This trip includes some things we enjoyed the first time, as well some places and things we didn't have time for...like vikings and dolmens. The map isn't exactly accurate, but Randy says it gives you the basic idea. Main places we plan to visit include: Dublin, Kilkenny/Waterford, Rock of Cashel/Killarney, Ring of Kerry/Killarney, Ring of Dingle, Cliffs of Moher, Galway, Inishmore, Donegal, Derry, Giant's Causeway, Ballycastle/Belfast, and Newgrange. Rand...
Read more

Day 1: Dublin

Image
On board the famine ship.  The weather was perfect today.     Sunny and no clouds.     We started out with breakfast at a local cafe.     No offense to Starbucks, but I don't recall my mochas looking quite like this.     (Taste was great also). We then headed off for a tour of Trinity College and the Book of Kells which is housed in a museum at Trinity. Trinity is the oldest college in Ireland, founded by Elizabeth I in 1592.    For approximately 325 years it was a Protestant only institution.   In the early 20th century that ban was lifted only to be replaced by the Catholics banning any of their members from attending. The Catholic ban was only lifted in the 1960s. The campus now has a student population that matches Irish society as a whole. Our tour was student led. Sadhbh (pronounced Sive and     rhymes with five)showed various buildings, most of which are 19th century and later.     No original 16th ce...
Read more