23 September 2013 – giants, beaches, cows and ruins.

Sad to leave Downhill after only 1 night, but glad to have had the chance to catch up on some laundry! We had a bit of a sleep-in then set off for the Giant’s Causeway. It is a perfect, sunny day today with barely a cloud in the sky – we wore coats thinking it could be cold and windy at the Causeway but we got pretty warm.

It’s about a 10-minute walk from car park to the Causeway, then we had a great time climbing all over the rocks.

It’s not a big area but there’s plenty to explore and the scenery is spectacular.

Our next stop is Carrick-a-Rede, where there is a famous rope bridge across to a rocky island. We decided not to do this, but had a walk along the cliff tops nearby.

(You can just make out the rope bridge with people crossing it, and exploring the island.)

On the way to Carrick-a-Rede, we noticed a road down towards a beach and decided to go back to have a look. It is a place called White Park Bay – there isn’t much there, just a youth hostel and a few houses plus a walk down to the beach. There was something rather out of the ordinary about this walk though – you have to pass through a cattle grazing area! The cows ignored us on the way down but on the way back we got quite a fright. A man was jogging on the beach with his 2 dogs, and the dogs ran off to the grazing area and starting rounding up the cows, which came stampeding out, over the sand dunes and awfully close to where we were walking. They detoured around us when they saw us, but if we’d been on the narrow path at the time, we’d have had to jump right into the bushes. The jogger didn’t even seem to notice what his dogs were doing.

Other than that, it was a lovely beach and we had a great time exploring and splashing.

After a picnic lunch, we continued on the coast road to Dunluce, where there is a ruined 15^th – 17^th century castle with amazing views over the coast.

It is said to have been a possible inspiration for Cair Paravel in the Narnia series by CS Lewis, who was born in Northern Ireland.

Our accommodation is in Derry/Londonderry, a town so caught up in the Troubles that it has a Republic of Ireland name and a United Kingdom name. Our hotel is a bit out of town, with views over the countryside.

We made good use of the hotel’s all-you-can-eat restaurant – it turns out all we can eat is an awful lot!