Causeway Coast

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After a few days in Dublin it's time to escape to the north and go up to Belfast via the Causeway Coast. Since the changes in the north the only real difference you notice when you cross the border now is the speed limits are now in miles per hour, as are the distances on the road signs, oh and you now use pounds not the euro. This is all ok except the speedo on the ford focus rental car is not in miles. But nothing a quick bit of mental arithmetic can't solve.

The causeway coast is stunning to say the least. The plan was to do a quick trip up to the top via Derry, this part of the plan fell over (a time issue) so instead I headed through Armagh and straight to the Giant's Causeway. Giants' Causeway is one of those amazing natural features, with all the basalt rock in nice hexagonal sections. From the Giant's Causeway it was off to the Carrick a Rede rope bridge. This nice little piece of rope suspension bridge was originally put in place to enable salmon fishermen to get to Carrick-a-Rede Island. The bridge is suspended thirty metres above the water and rocks and moves when you walk on it.

The exciting thing about driving around Ireland and in particular the Causeway Coast is the tractor. Just about everyone in Ireland must own a tractor that they take for Sunday drives along the Causeway Coast. I lost count of the number of times I came around a bend and alas there was one of Ireland's finest John Deer tractors going for a run down to the shops. Then there was the motorbikes that were worse then a plague of locusts. If you didn't own a tractor in Ireland then you must have owned a motorbike.

Finally the last stop before Belfast, Carrickfergus and it's castle that was built in the late 1100's. Only a fleeting stop as the castle was closed, it was raining and a tad cold.

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Photos

Nice place for a shack
This fisherman's hut was occupied until 2003, when the last fisherman retired.