Mother and I were extra organized this morning, since we'd done all our packing the night before. We were up and dressed in no time, and had a nice leisurely breakfast before meeting our group and heading to the bus at 9. We all laughed about how good it was to see each other and how it felt so lonely splitting up yesterday and being by ourselves! You do get used to traveling around in a big herd and not having to make decisions - it can be a little disorienting to have to fend for yourself all of a sudden.
We made our way out of Belfast and headed north up the coast. The stretch of coast from Belfast to Londonderry is called the Antrim Causeway Coast, and is rated as one of the Worlds Great Road Journeys. It's 120 miles long, and we did the whole tag today, stopping off at a few cool places along the way.
Unfortunately, it was windy and rainy most of the day. We were due at least one rainy day during our time here - in fact, it's amazing that we haven't had more of them! But still, it was a little bit of a downer to have it so grey and cloudy.
Nonetheless, the scenery was still beautiful. We stopped in cute little villages for coffee and bathroom breaks, or for a few photo ops, but our first real stop was The Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge. This was originally built by salmon fisherman so they could cross over from the peninsula to a little rocky island where apparently all the good fishing was. Now it's just a cool experience and in a very pretty area with lots of trails and hiking spots.
We were a little nervous about just how long/rickety/dangerous/high/bouncy the rope bridge would be, but it turned out the trickiest part was all the hiking and steps required to get to the bridge! The bridge itself was a piece of cake.
By the time we met back in the bus everyone was all wind blown and wet from the rain and feeling pleased with ourselves for doing such adventurous activities. We passed around cookies and gorp. Unfortunately, my cold is starting to go around, so Airborne and cough drops and essential oils were also passed out. Mother bought some local seaweed at a little shop and munched on that.
We drove another half hour to the Giants Causeway, a geologic wonder of over 40,000 six sided interlocking basalt columns. We ate lunch in the visitors center first before taking a quick bus ride to where the columns start.
This is such a cool place, and I loved just the little bit I was able to see. Unfortunately, with the rain, the rocks were really slippery and I didn't feel confident abut scrambling and hiking around on them like others were in order to see some of the fabulous vantage points. You could easily spend hours here on the miles of hiking trails enjoying all the different views.
Mother and I just explored from safe ground, and then had a quick spin through the gift shop before being back in the bus right on time. We pride ourselves on always being on time. I'm petrified of keeping the group waiting!
Our final stop was Dunluce Castle, the 14th century ruins that C.S. Lewis used as inspiration for Cair Paravel, where the kings and queens of Narnia lived. We just stopped for a quick photo before driving the final 45 minutes into Londonderry.
We're here for two nights, and are staying at a nice hotel right downtown. We had time for a quick nap before dinner in the hotel resturaunt, then it was back to our room for some TV, reading, and bed
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