Game of Thrones & Giants Causeway

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I was collected from just around the corner from my hotel at 8:15 for the Game of Thrones tour. Here was me thinking I was lucky and was the only person in the tour! Not to be - this guy just drove me to the head office of Irish Tours so I could join up with the group - of 50 other people lol. Once everyone was on board, we were on our way. Our tour guide's name was Sharleen and she had been an extra in Season 6. She was a wildling that hadn't yet turned into a white walker so spent most of her time just lying on the ground haha. She did advise that it would be hard to meet someone in Belfast that wasn't somehow involved in Game of Thrones!

The drive to our first location was beautiful as we followed the Causeway Coastal Route. We went past a quarry that is fenced off as it had been hired by HBO for filming lots of scenes but the most exciting for us was that it is the Wall in the North with Castle Black on top. You could definitely see how this spot could be used in this way but obviously CGI plays a big part in most scenes. We were not allowed to stop anywhere here and take photos so that is just one for the memory bank.

From here we drive to Carnlough - the harbour here is where they filmed the scene of Arya coming out of the water and crawling up the stairs after she was stabbed. Sharleen told us that the first part of this scene, when Arya is walking through a town and it looks sunny and warm is because it was - and this was a dead give away that this part was not filmed in Ireland! It was filmed in Spain until the point where she fell into the water. So she fell into the water in Spain but then surfaced in Ireland!

Our next spot to stop was where they filmed Davos Seaworth and Melisandre coming ashore and going into a cave, where she gave birth to the Stannis' Shadow child. If you haven't watch GoT this probably all sounds weird to you! The area where all this (and more was filmed) is known as the Stormlands in the show.

Sharleen pointed out many other places of interest along the way and shared lots of information about how Game of Thrones has had an impact on their economy. We saw castles that have been used in shoots as well as another area that was used both for filming when Brianne of Tarth first fought in the king's battle to get entry to his guard, as well as the Iron Islands scene in the last season, where Theon and Yara Greyjoy are challenged by their uncle for the throne. Sharleen would play the appropriate clips from the series as we were coming into another filming location.

Our next destination was the Giants Causeway - this location has never been used in the GoT series. Of course though there are always stories and myths about how the causeway came about. No surprises though - it involves two giants! One from Scotland that was challenging the one from Ireland and how the Irish giant pretended to be a baby and when the Scottish giant came calling and saw the size of the baby, he was terrified by how big the Irish Giant must be so he hightailed it back across the water, leaving the trail of rocks. It was a good 15 minute walk down to the Giants Causeway and as you come around the corner, the sight is quite stunning! I will let the photos tell the story.

After playing on the causeway for a while, I then went for a good walk right around the bay. The coastline is stunning! We had nearly 2 hours to spend here so I made the most of the opportunity to walk and explore. I think in some ways the reason why I was so impressed is because people had set my expectations low. I had been told "it's not as big as you think it's going to be" so when I saw it all, I was very impressed. Definitely worth making the trip out to this location!

From here we headed to the Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge. This rope bridge has also been used in scenes in GoT and you can see why! The bridge links the mainland to the tiny island of Carrickarede - it spans 20 metres and is 30 metres above the rocks below. It was optional if you wanted to walk across the bridge so of course i did! The walk across the bridge was easy and it didn't sway too much - the views though were breath taking! I explored the island for a while. It has very high treacherous cliffs all around it and everything was lovely shades of green, with the blue sea and sky giving it all the perfect background. And the best part? You get to walk across the bridge again when you make your way back across! Once again, we had a generous amount of time to explore the area so I walked along the coast for a while, taking in the scenery.

We then headed for our final stop - the Dark Hedges or Kingsroad (that Arya took when leaving Kings Landing after her father Ned had been beheaded). We all hopped out of the bus so we could get photos there. I didn't think the photos would work out very good as there were people heading toward us from the other direction but Sharleen knew how to position the shots so you couldn't see anyone. Interesting fact - during a storm a while back, two of the trees blew over. The GoT crew arranged for some doors to be made out of the timber and a door was given to different establishments that were used for filming. Once everyone had finished taking their photos, we were on our way back to Belfast, arriving back at the bus station around 6pm. Long day but awesome.

I walked to a Fish Cafe that wasn't far from the hotel and had some mussels for dinner. Afterwards I headed back to the hotel and hadn't a drink in the bar before retiring to my room to relax after the big day out. .

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