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Published: August 5th 2007
On a mission
I'm trying to find a rock for my garden... a hexagonal one perhaps...Mum and Dad had finally completed their epic tour of Scotland and Ireland so there was only one thing left to do. Chris and I flew to Belfast insanely early on Saturday morning and picked up a rental car from the airport. We were joining my parents to do the 'family history' thing in Northern Ireland.
We had a quick look around Belfast before heading out to the country but the murky weather made the whole place feel depressing. I've included some photos that Mum took of the amazing murals that are a feature of Belfast. I'm sure the city has a fascinating history but we just weren't keen to stick around and discover it on this occasion.
Our destination was the tiny village of Upperlands. This is where my great, great, great.. great (?) Grandfather on Dad's side of the family started a hugely successful linen business back last century. The huge family house is still standing and is no longer in the family. It's now run as a luxury bed and breakfast. It was also to be our base to explore some of the surrounding countryside.
After an amazing five course meal and a fantastic nightssleep
we all met up with our relative, Mr Wallace Clark the next day. He was an amazing man who has undertaken some amazing feats in his lifetime. Despite being in his eighties, he was as sharp as a tack and had no problems with bounding up banks and steep hills. He was only to keen to show us around the remains of the linen factory and share some of the family history with us.
(Skip this bit if you want, it will only be interesting to immediate family!)
We were all amazed to see the size of the facilities and to learn of the scale of the operation. William Clark & Sons started back in 1700 when John Clark bought land in Upperlands and began to buy linen locally from handloom weavers which he exported to America. He later developed a process that used the sun and later river power to bleach linen. Over time the company grew and grew. William Clark & Sons even supplied linen to the likes of Saville Row tailors who made suits for the Royal Family. I've just looked online and found that the company was supplying undercollars for up to 80% of men’s
Giants Causeway 1
Thousands of basalt columns. jackets in the UK at it's peak and employed over 700 people in the area.
Anyway, the complex was huge and must have been a hive of activity a few hundred years ago. We felt lucky to be able to walk around the huge dams four dams and enormous factory buildings. Meeting Mr Clark and learning about the business and family history was undoubtably one of the highlights for all of us.
Chris and I also made the journey out to the Giants Causeway as we have both wanted to visit it since reading about it in the '1001 natural wonders you must see before you die' book.
This certainly didn't disappoint as we spent a few hours pondering how Mother Nature managed to create something so utterly bizarre! The rock formations are so strange they almost look man-made. They cover a huge area and there are about 40,000 columns. They are (according to the website) 62 - 65 million years old and are the results of molten lava that cooled when it came into quick contact with water. We found the best way to appreciate the area was to get away from the other visitors and
walk to the end and top of the tracks where less people bother to go.
The next day we took the long way back to Belfast with Mum and Dad and stopped to do a short coastal walk and cross the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. Considering the strong winds and the 24 metre drop onto angry rocks and waves, Mother crossed the bridge with a surprising minimum of fuss!
Lastly, we took a longer walk in Glenariff Forest Park where we were (pleasantly) surprised to find an Irish pub in the middle of the waterfall loop walk.
Despite the security alert being at 'critical stage' thanks to the previous days events at Glasgow airport, we were back on our plane and winging our way back to London without any delays.
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