Northern Ireland: Day 5

We spent Sunday exploring more of Northern Ireland’s coastal regions. We started our day at the Giant’s Causeway which is a spectacular scenic attraction made up of 40,000 basalt columns that extend from the foot of the cliffs into the sea. The local legend is that the Giant’s Causeway served as a battleground between the Irish giant Finn McCool and Scottish giant Benandonner.

A view of the Giant's Causeway from above

Columns that make up the Giant's Causeway

Giant's Causeway!!

We continued down the Causeway Coast (the coastal highway along the northern region of Northern Ireland) to the remains of the 16th century Dunluce Castle which is set right on the cliffs overlooking the ocean.

Dunluce Castle

A view of the surrounding cliffs from Dunluce Castle

Next, we grabbed some lunch in Bushmills and took a tour of the Bushmills Whiskey Distillery. The tour lasted about 35 minutes, and we learned about the process and ingredients used to make Irish whiskey. All whiskey produced at Bushmills is made from just 3 ingredients: malted barley, water, & yeast. The primary difference between Irish whiskey and Scottish whiskey (scotch) are the methods used to dry the barley (scotch barley is typically dried over peat moss which gives it a more smoky flavor) and the number of times the whiskey is distilled (scotch is distilled twice, Irish whiskey is distilled three times). After the tour, we were able to sample one of Bushmills’ whiskeys and spent some time chatting with a group of folks that we met on the tour from California.

Bushmills Whiskey Distillery

One of our last stops for the day was the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge. As its name says, it is literally a rope bridge that connects two small islands along the coast. The original rope bridge was constructed over 350 years ago as a means for local fisherman to have the best access to catch migrating salmon. Over the years, the bridge has been fortified to accommodate the large number of visitors to the site who come to enjoy the same views and high thrills!

Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge...don't look down!!

Carrick-a-rede Island

We finished our day with drive around the remainder of the Causeway Coast. We stopped for dinner in the lovely little coastal village of Cushendun and enjoyed some great food (Cori – salmon & cider; David – steak & Guinness). As we were getting ready to leave the restaurant, we started speaking with some locals who had just sat down to eat. One of the gentlemen offered to briefly leave the restaurant with us so he could get a map from his car outside and recommend a few places for us to visit during the remainder of our trip! Like we have said, people here are so friendly and we have really enjoyed getting to chat with some of the locals. A little way down the road, we stopped in the quaint little fishing village of Carnlough for some icecream and then headed back to Ballymena so that Cori could get ready for another few days of work this week.

The food & drinks were so good that we had to take a picture!

Carnlough Village