The castle was built in 1180 and is one of the best preserved castles in Ireland. It is noted as being the place where King William III first set foot in Ireland in 1690. Unfortunately, our schedule didn’t allow time for a guided tour of the castle, but we were able to walk through part of the castle before re-boarding the bus and heading to our next stop the (drum roll) Carrick a Rede rope bridge. This 65 foot rope bridge, described as “death defying” in tourist guides, connects a very tiny island to the mainland. For those who have the nerve to cross the bridge, the views from the island are spectacular. The bridge is 80 feet high over a chasm of rough sea water between the island and mainland.
After asking who planned to cross the rope bridge, our bus driver spent most of the drive to the site giving us a pep talk on how safe the bridge was, how no one had ever fallen off the rope bridge, etc. etc. While well-intentioned, this only served to make anyone who was already nervous about crossing the bridge even more so. I am afraid of heights, so this whole “pep talk” was a bit unnerving for me. When we pulled up to the site, we found it was about a mile walk out to the rope bridge. Although there was a paved trail and steps out to the bridge site, it was tough going as the uphill path at times was almost at a 45 degree angle and being in such great physical condition (ha!), I needed to stop a few times to catch my breath.
When we finally arrived at the bridge, the first thing we saw was a young German couple standing off to the side. The husband/boyfriend was clearly agitated and looked to be on the verge of hyperventilating every time he looked behind him at the bridge. His wife/girlfriend was trying to calm him down and reassure him, but even though I couldn’t understand what she was saying to him, I could tell she was a little annoyed with him. I felt sorry for him since it was obvious he was pretty embarrassed. I decided at that point that no matter how scary this bridge was, I would not be joining him at the side of the trail. To access the bridge you had to climb down a steep ladder of steps set into the side of the hill – this was almost worse than the bridge itself!
When we finally arrived at the bridge, the first thing we saw was a young German couple standing off to the side. The husband/boyfriend was clearly agitated and looked to be on the verge of hyperventilating every time he looked behind him at the bridge. His wife/girlfriend was trying to calm him down and reassure him, but even though I couldn’t understand what she was saying to him, I could tell she was a little annoyed with him. I felt sorry for him since it was obvious he was pretty embarrassed. I decided at that point that no matter how scary this bridge was, I would not be joining him at the side of the trail. To access the bridge you had to climb down a steep ladder of steps set into the side of the hill – this was almost worse than the bridge itself!
I took a deep breath and stepped onto the bridge. It was GREAT!
The view from the bridge was awesome and surprisingly the swaying of the bridge wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Once over to the island, the views were breathtaking and well worth the trip over the bridge.
After spending some time exploring the island, we headed back across the bridge (even easier this time!) and back on the trail to the bus.
Our next stop was Bushmills Distillery which is famous for making Irish whiskey since 1608. We had just enough time for a quick taste of one of their new concoctions (cranberry flavored whiskey – yuck – I passed!) and a tour of their gift shop.
Next, we headed to Giant’s Causeway – a world heritage site and one of the biggest tourist attractions in Northern Ireland. The causeway is the site of hexagonal shaped basalt stones estimated to be 62 to 65 million years old formed when a volcanic rock flow experienced unusual, rapid, and erratic cooling. The cooling forced the rock to crack forming hexagons and pentagons. The basalt columns – some as high as 30 feet tall - look like pavers making a path to the sea. The rocks are the basis of Irish legends about the fictional giant Finn McCoul (a little like our Paul Bunyan) and how he set the rocks down to make a pathway across the sea – hence the name Giant’s Causeway. We had a great time climbing all over the rock formations and took many pictures of the amazing rock formations. Our tour guide later told us that there is a similar rock formation in Wyoming called Devils Tower National Monument.
After a short ride, we stopped at the ruins of Dunluce Castle, built in the 1200s. Dunluce Castle has been the site of historic battles and a Jackie Chan movie (The Medallion). The castle sits about 100 feet above the ocean on basalt rock isolated from the mainland by a 20 foot drop. This made the castle very difficult to attack. Unfortunately, it also make the castle prone to landslides and in 1639 a piece of the basalt rock broke off under the kitchen portion of the castle and fell into the sea taking with it the entire cooking staff who died. Some of my favorite pictures of the trip are of this castle. The misty, overcast weather today made for a perfect shot of the castle.
We arrived back in Belfast around 7PM. Meghan had made arrangements to meet a friend of hers from her St. Thomas days for dinner and would travel back to the inn later. (I was concerned about leaving her and finding her way back to Strangford on her own, but she emphatically reminded me “Mom! I am 25 years old!”) Will and I decided to head back to the inn – it had been a fun, but busy day and we were looking forward to the comforts of the inn. After we parted ways with Meghan, Will and I headed to the bus center and found out that the last bus to Strangford had left 30 minutes before and the only other bus available that evening was to Portaferry. Not a problem we thought – we can just take the ferry across to Strangford once we get to Portaferry. Our big concern though was – How is Meghan going to get back to the inn?? In our rush to get going that morning, we had left Will’s phone behind at the inn and had no way to let Meghan know she would be missing the last bus! I worried all the way to Portaferry (- what kind of mother would leave her child behind!?). And believe me – I had plenty of time to worry! The bus we had taken to Belfast in the morning – the express bus – took just 30 minutes. We didn’t realize it when we boarded the bus to Portaferry, but we were not on the express bus going back. It took us 1½ hours to get to Portaferry. I was tired, worried, and sick of buses at this point. Will put it best - - as we were riding down a country lane, the bus had to pull over to let a man on horseback pass by. Will leaned over and said “Things that seemed so charming just a week ago, are now just a pain in the a**”. I had to laugh – it was true! We just wanted to get home! We finally arrived at Portaferry and boarded the ferry for the short ride to Strangford. I was imagining how good a hot shower and a glass of Baileys would be – after 14 hours on the go – most of it riding buses . . . when Will discovered he did not have the key! Since the key to our room AND the key to the inn were on the same key ring we were in big trouble. I was reminded of Thomas Paine’s famous words used during the Revolutionary War “These are the times that try men’s souls.” . . . they try men’s marriages as well! As luck would have it, when we reached the inn we met up with an older gentleman who was seeing off a group in front of the inn. He could tell we were in a predicament. When we explained our situation, he told us he worked at the inn and had a key to let us in. He gave us a spare key to our room and was so helpful and friendly, doing everything he could to make sure we were settled in. I can tell you there are angels on earth – one of them resides in Stangford, Northern Ireland and goes by the name of Colman Rooney! When we reached our room, I immediately checked Will’s phone (which we’d left behind) for messages from Meghan and discovered she was in her room – wondering where we were! It seems after her dinner with her friend, she had hopped on an express bus to Downpatrick then taken a cab to Strangford and had arrived about a half hour before we did. Whew! All was well.
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