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Published: April 7th 2009
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Day 2: The Causeway Coastal Route
Taylor and I got up bright and early and began the next leg of our journey. This section of the adventure was the one that I was looking forward to the most. I have read a lot about the Giant's Causeway, even completing an assignment about it in Grade 8, and have always wanted to see it in person. So we began the much anticipated drive along the coastal route.
The first main little town we drove through was Carrickfergus, which had a cute castle. So we stopped the car and took some photos infront of it. We continued the drive along the coast which truely had some amazing views. As you drive there are all kinds of little spots that you can pull over so that you can fully take in the view. We decided to stop at Drains Bay as there was a nice little beach there for us to run around on. On this beach we ran into a lovely Irish man who was painting a landscape picture of the coast in preparation for his art class that he was teaching in a few hours. He was very nice,
mistakenly called us American but then apologized profusely so we forgave him. After stretching our legs we got back into the car to continue our pilgrimage to the Giant's Causeway. As we drove along it did rain a few times but thankfully everytime we got out of the car the skies would shine down on us rather than rain!
We arrived at the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge at about 11:30am. Unfortunately, the lutes curse kicked in and the winds were to strong to allow any one to go out onto the bridge. We decided to take the long walk down towards the bridge to take in the view and what a view it was. I definitely want to head back there in the summer in hopes that the bridge will be open my second time around. The guide at the gate of the bridge pointed out a number of things to us: the cliffs jetting out in the distance being the most northern point of Ireland, the coast line far off in the distance being Scotland, and the massive sway in the bridge from the wind. He said that he could probably get us across the bridge once but couldn't
guarantee being able to bring us back to the main land... and due to the complete lack of sleeping quarters or anything resembling warmth on the little island I agreed that it was probably not a good idea to attempt the crossing.
Back in the car we continued the last 15min of the drive to the GIANTS CAUSEWAY!!!! On the way we drove past the Dunseverick Castle, which had literally only a few walls left but neat none the less. And finally we made it to the GIANTS CAUSEWAY. It was still incredibly windy but that wasn't going to stop me. The stones were really amazing. The perfection to the formations are hard to believe. I took lots and lots of pictures and videos of the rock formations. The story behind the Giants Causeway, if memory serves, has something to do with the fact that there were once two giants. One that lived in Ireland and one the lived in Scotland. The Irish giant heard that the Scotish giant was planning on walking across the Causeway of stone stairs that once connected Ireland and Scotland to fight the Irish giant. So the Irish giant decided to sneak across and
beat him to the punch. But when the Irish giant arrived he realized that the Scotish giant was bigger than he was sooo he high tailed it back across the stone stair causeway and fell asleep (probably after a couple pints). Now the Irish giants wife heard the Scotish giant coming and much like many wives she had to do the dirty work for her husband..hehehehe... and devised a plan to trick the Scotish giant.... so she gets a blanket and baby bottle and puts it in her sleeping husbands hand and when the Scotish giant arrives she yells at him and tells him "you better be quiet my baby is sleeping and if my husband comes back and finds out you woke our baby son up he will be furious!" so the scotish giant realizing that this supposed baby is already almost as big as he is and that the father must be 10 times his size he decided it was to big of a risk to take and took the stone stair way back to Scotland. On his way he smashed up the stairs so that he could never return again. Even Irish Giants couldn't survive without their
wives!
Soo back to the causeway, Taylor and I walked the many paths of the causeway to makesure we didnt miss a second of it and we came across a set of stairs that go up the cliffs and apparently bring you back to the beginning... so we figured this would be the best path as we wouldn't have to repeat the stuff we just went through... what we didnt plan for was the crazy winds being a million times worse at the top of the cliff.. and I know, I know it is basic science that the winds would be stronger at the top of the clifffs but we weren't thinking that far ahead. So we walked the 150 stairs to the top and everything was perfect and beautiful... at first. The next thing you know this gail force wind comes straight at us, rips my sunglasses off of my face and throws them toward the edge of the cliff, I dive for them screaming "NOT MY DOLCE'S", pick up my frames and my one lens that was popped out and shove them into my purse, then my purse gets ripped out of my hands, I grab my
purse and stand up and get knocked back, I cant move forward and can feel my shoes being pushed in the gravel towards the edge of the cliff, I think DROP!!!! get to the ground the wind wont be as strong.... so I drop. The wind thrashes me with stones and dirt. A nice lady sees me and screams in panick running towards me (as the wind is against her back) she can't stop and starts to be pushed past me so I reach out and grab her hand and yell to her that I am fine and am just waiting for the wind to stop. So her husband comes along and collects her and they continue to walk with the wind. I decide to army crawl against the wind (just our luck that we need to go against the wind to get back to the car) towards Taylor who is wrapped around a fence post for dear life. Together we make it around the bend in the road and the wind stops! My hair at this point was one HOT MESS. We make it back to the car and I attempt to put a comb through my hair and
quickly realize it is futile and decide to put a hat on.
We continue our drive around the coast: Portrush, Derry, Donegal, Sligo, and finally to Galway! It was a very very very long drive. On the way we stopped at another castle, Dunluce Castle, which was really nice. We ran around in the castle for a while I even sat inside the oven. We arrived in Galway after dark so pretty much went straight to the hostel and showered. The hostel was pretty nice we roomed with a pair of cousins who were from Canada as well. Again we went to bed pretty quickly as we had another big day planned.
Unfortunately, the next day would be driven WITHOUT my sunglasses as they were still broken.
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Cathie
non-member comment
Wind swept
Katie, Katie, Katie you should know better than to fight with "Mother Nature" the sunglasses we can replace you on the other hand we cannot. Looks like you got some great pics. When your Aunt Kim and I get there will drag you with us. You might just have to carry Auntie Kim up that long set of stairs. She's an old broad you know....LOL. I can find myself a new peep when I get there. Any how keep sending us your stories as they are terrific and fun to read. Luv u lots. Mom